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JBRARY OF CONGRESS. I 




iJIMITEO STATES 



TES OF AI^ERSCA. i 



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SLAVERY, 



AND 



TBI SIAMOIDIR'S RUM 



AS OPPOSED TO 



CHEISTIANITY, 

BT SAmiTEL BROOKE. 



" But woe unto yon Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrite* for yeshnt ap the 
Kingdom of Hearen against men : for ye neither go io yovrselves, D«itb«r 
suffer ye tbem tkat ar« ent«riog, to go is." 



CINCINNATI : 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 
1846. 



SLAVERY 



AND 



Tl SIMOWR'S RlllfilON: 



AS OPPOSED TO 



CHRISTIANITY. 



■^y\y ^ 

y\,yr BY SAMUEL BROOKE. 

^4 )H 



"But woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up tho 
Kingdom of Heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither 
suffer ye them that are entering, to go in." 



PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 

CINCINNATI, 
1846. 



^- 



INTRODUCTIOJV, 



Under the broad JEg'is of the American Union, — within a 
government which sprang into existence with this as its earli- 
est declaration, "That all men are created equal, and endowed 
by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that 
among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;'' — at 
the heart of a nation which took its place among the indepen- 
dent Governments of the earth, amidst those mighty convulsions 
occasioned by a stern combat for these declared rights that 
rocked two hemispheres as with an earthquake's violence, hu- 
man beings are claimed as property, and held as slaves! But 
could those, who in the days that tried men's souls, when dan- 
gers, like crouching lions, met them in every path, those men 
whose hearts leaped up at the word Liberty, and whose faith 
in the professions of the leaders of the American people was 
imbounded, — men, who, believing the Americans sincere in 
that declaration, who believed them heroic when they ventured 
their lives, generous, when they staked their fortunes, truth- 
ful, when they pledged their lienor, honest, when they appealed 
to the Supreme Judge of the Universe for the rectitude of their 
intentions, and believing thus, rallied around the American 
standard, leaving the rocky hills of the North, the fertile fields 
of the Middle States, who came up from the sunny South, from 
enthusiastic France, from liberty loving Poland, and the Afri- 
co American, who, from among the slaves, came with the cry 
ef "give me liberty, or give me death" upon his lips, and entered 
the ranks to battle against tyranny, all, hoping and believino-, 
as well when the death rattle was in the throat, as in the hour 
of triumph, when victory perched upon their banners, that they 
were struggling for liberty, for the pursuit of happiness, for the 
welfare of wives, of children, of parents, for the right, for the 
principle that men are capable of self government, that gov- 
ernments are established among men for the protection of 
rights, deriving their just powers from the consent of the gov- 
erned, and at so great a cost of blood, and treasure, achieved 
the independence of this country. Could they with prophetic 
ken have looked down the vista of coming time and foreseen 
the fearful wrecks of principle, not as the airy phantoms of a 
diseased imagination, nor as the impalpable figures of a fever- 
ed dream; but, realising the frightful amount of guilt to be 



enacted, the three millions of human beings in chains, the vio- 
lation of every principle of human brotherhood, of natural 
right, of justice, of humanity, of Christianity, of love to God, 
and to man. Could they have seen the wretched slave coffle, 
conveying its load of anguish to the Southern swamps, the cruel 
separvition of friends, the sundering of families, scattering them 
hopeless of re-union — tlie instruments of torture, the horrors of 
the slave prison, heard the cry of the child, the agonising sliriek 
of the mother, the meanings of the sister, and the stifled groans 
of the strong man in fetters, witnesscdtho degradation of the in- 
tellect, and the darkening of the understanding of a whole race, 
and have seen that flag which so often had waved triumphantly 
over their own heads, when they believed themselves flghting 
for liberty, now reared over those who crush the man into tlie 
sieve; how it must have paralysed their efforts, dampened 
their glowing enthusiasm, and chilled the generous ardour 
which prompted them to offer their lives, if needful, as a sacri- 
fice upon what they believt d to be the altar of liberty ! And 
how their feelings must have revolted at the thought of, and 
their hands recoiled from, a contest, ostensibly for liberty and 
the rights of man; but in reality, a struggle to build up a slave- 
holding government, and in disgust have retired from the in- 
glorious strife to their homes, and there have mourned in sad- 
ness of heart and bitterness of soul over the faithlessness of 
Americans, and the blasted hopes of those who long for free- 
dom for mankind I ! But to leave speculation upon tlie conse- 
quences; had the men of the past foreseen the present, we stand 
with the appalling fact staring us in the face, that we are in the 
midst of a nation, where human beings are claimed aa proper ty, 
and held as slaves! This claim receives a sanction, not alone 
by the political institutions of the country, by which the phy- 
sical power of the whole people is pledged to sustain it, but also, 
by the individual declarations of the opponents ot emancipation 
both in the North and the South. By many of these it is said 
that to abolish slavery would be wrong, because the act of abo- 
lition would deprive the slave claimant of his property, and 
hence it is inferred that the advocates of emancipation are 
clearly in error. If the slaves do in reality belong to their 
claimants, tlie premises being true, the conclusion drawn in 
regard to the error of abolitionists must also be correct, sinco 
the slave cannot be the property of a master, unless he is right- 
fully such, and the person cannot be otherwise than wrong, who 
endeavors to abrogate a right. 

If the slave is the property of his master, it follows that the 
principles of the American Declaration of Independence are un- 
true, and Christianity a fable. If the master does own the slave, 
then, it is evident, men have not inalienable rights — then aro 
men not to be governed by principles of immutable and eternal 
justice, for what is just and right is contingent upon circum- 
stances which change with the will and power of those who 



mould them, and the rights of many, are contingencies depend- 
ing upon tliose, for existence and character. 

Upon the question of tlie right of the master to the slave the 
people of this land are divided. A small minority assume the 
ground that the rights of the most humble are as perfect as 
those of the most gifted. That the person held in slavery has 
an equal right to liberty, with the one who claims him, and that 
this right was conferred upon both by the Author of our exis- 
tence. In taking this position, they believe they have planted 
themselves upon the rock of Eternal truth, and therefore un- 
tiringly, and firmly demand the abolition of slavery. They ask 
of their fellow men to cease to lay violent hands upon the rights 
of others, humble though these may be. They tell them it is 
far more mean and inglorious to outrage the rights of the weak, 
and the helpless, than to impose upon those strong to attempt 
their own redress. That it is noble and God-like to seek the 
liberty of the captive, and the liberation of those who are in 
bonds. On the other hand a large majority of the people op- 
pose this demand, resisting the efforts of the abolitionists, and 
denying the truth of their doctrines. I say a large majority, for 
all who do not refuse to aid the master in crushing him, who 
fail to advocate the enfranchisement of the slave, stand in op- 
position to that measure. It being a great moral question, one 
ofright, of duty, of religion, all wJio are not for the measure, 
are against it. Those who are not for justice uphold injustice 
— there is no neutral ground to stand upon in a question of this 
character. Christ has said, "he that is not for me is against 
me.'' The slave is kept in his condition under the authority of 
constitutional and statutary enactments, and those who admin- 
ister, execute or authorise the execution of these enactments, 
stand with their feet upon his neck. Slaveholding being a mat- 
ter of agreement between the people of the difierent States of 
this Union, each with all and all with each, dependent entirely 
upon this for its continuance, those who stand in that compact, 
who fulfil that agreement, stand with iron heels upon the bleed- 
ing bosom of the prostrate slave. 

Eut if the slave does belong to his claimant, he is rightfully 
his property. If an article is mine, it is mine of right. Some- 
thing is not produced of nothing. A right cannot grow out of 
nothing. When a man is in possession of a right he receives 
it from some source of power to invest him with it. When it 
is claimed that a master owns a slave, that he has a tight to 
him, if he really possesses it, the right grows out of something, 
proceeds from some source. Many persons have no definite 
idea on the subject of rights. Some such, while they suppose 
the master has a right to the slave, from whence derived they 
know not, are in their actions still governed by a vague, inde- 
finite idea, floating somewhere in the region of chaotic thought, 
that he is property, because the other has paid his money for 
him. To get at the question 1 will assume that the slave dees 



6 

belong to his master, and thus proceeding upon the claim of 
the opponents of emancipation, will draw some conclusions 
from their premises, and in the light of those conclusions, per- 
haps I may be able to reconcile the slaveholding religion of this 
country, and the conduct of the American people with that 
claim, and also indicate the perfect consistency of the profess- 
ors of that religion, its D. D's., its ministers, and adherents, 
scattered all over the North and the South, in their warfare 
upon Christianity. 

The master having a right to the slave, that right in its source 
proceeds from either, 1. Because he claims him as his property, 
or, 2. Because he has got him into his possession by purchase 
or otherwise, or, 3. Because the law declares him to be his pro- 
perty, or, 4. and lastly, because God has conferred upon the 
master a right to the slave. From one of these four difierent 
sources he c>btAins that right. Does he possess a right through 
the first — namely : the claim made to him as property ? Then is 
the right of the robber to the stolen goods in his hands, which he 
claims, a perfect one. If to merely claim any thing as mine, 
gives me a right to it, all things which I claim will become 
mine; my neighbors house will become mine by merely claim- 
ing it, and if you choose, you may establish an equal claim to 
it, as yours, whilo he may choose to continue lo claim it as 
his, and the right of each of us to its possession will be equal! 
If the mere claim of the master invests him with a right to the 
slave, then every person whom he may choose to claim, from 
the king on the throne, to the beggar on his straw, will also be- 
come his slave, and thus every person will become a slave to 
every other person, who may fancy it worth while to put in a 
claim for possession. To state the argument is sufficient to de- 
monstrate its absurdity. But, 2. He is his property, because 
ho has him in possession by purchase or otherwise. 

According to this proposition, might makes, or confers a 
right. The weak and defenceless man must serve the strong, 
because lie has power to enslave him. The King, or the Presi- 
dent, is not my slave, only because I have not the power to 
reduce him to bondage, and whoever has the power may right- 
fully deprive him, me, or any other, of his liberty. If superior 
physical ability, greater mental power, or a larger amount of 
wealth, gives to tlie possessor the right to enslave those of lesser 
ability, power and wealth, then A may have the right to enslave 
me, because lie is stronger, B, because he is more intellectual, 
C, because he is more affluent, and thus tlie rights of A, B, and 
C to me will all be equal and each conflict with the other. And 
for the same reason A may rightfully claim possession of B, the 
later of C, and C have as rightful a claim to A. If mere pos- 
session invests in the possessor a right to property, every thing 
which comes into my possession no matter how, when, or 
where, is mine and thus your watch loaned me to inform me 
of the time, becomes mine the moment my hands enclose it. 



I may"possess myself of any thing by producing it through the 
labor of my hands — purchase it by giving an equivalent, bor- 
row it for transient use, tind it in the road, field or my neigh- 
bors house, steal it privately or rob another of it forcibly, and 
in eitlier case, if this proposition be correct it becomes right- 
fully mine. Evidently tliis second claim is as groundless as the 
first. But says the objector, the master has bought the slave 
and paid his money for him. Now if the mere lact of payment 
of money gives aright to property, independent of any right in 
the seller thus to dispose of it, I may sell to you my neigh- 
bors horse, and he becomes rightfully yours, because you have 
paid me your money for him. Your right to him does not arise 
out of the fact that I transferred to you a right to him, for I had 
no such right to transfer; but simply because you paid me for 
him. It is universally admitted that no person can convey to 
another, a right which he does not possess in liimseif, and hence 
this proposition is shewn to be without foundation. 

3. The law declares the slave to be the property of the 
master. It is true that statutary enactments in this country 
make this declaration. But what is statute or municipal law? 
A municipal law says Blackstone, "is a rule of civil conduct 
prescribed by the Supreme power in the State.'' Next arises 
the question what is a Stale 1 That governments are establish- 
ed among men for the protection of rights deriving their just 
powers from the consent of the governed, is a truth which can- 
not be made more clear by argument. If a State orGovernment 
prescribes a rule, and by that rule declares me to be the pro 
perty of another, enforces it, and enables another to hold me as 
a slave against my will (unless the 4th proposition proves true,) 
it exercises unjust powers. This is power exercised not to pro- 
tect rights, but to violate them, it is might, without and against 
right, and cannot be regarded as any thing more than an asso- 
ciation of individuals, whose combined powers are employed 
in acts of violence and wrong, and whose enactments therefore 
cannot truly be termed law. Hence they must be regarded as 
any other associations of men, whose power is employed in the 
perpetration of wrong and outrage, and no more entitled to 
claim that their government is Divinely established, than are 
bands of robbers, or nations of pirates. God never established 
any thing in opposition to his own laws,hence that government 
which is Divinely established, acts in accordance with the law«« 
of God, and not in opposition to them. All the rights of which 
we are possessed are conferred upon us by our Creator. Hu- 
man beings possess no others. If individuals possess'any rights, 
one of them must be the right of the individual to the proceeds 
of his own labor. Another may transfer to me the right to any 
thing which belongs to him, and I thus obtain a conventional 
right thereto; that is a right by agreement. Governments may 
convey the right to any thing which belongs to them, but they 
can confer no others. If they could, it would be because they 



s 

possess creative powers; not having- these, they can confer no 
rights but such as are conventional. They cannot take away 
rights, yet thoy can prevent the exorcise and enjoyment of 
them. While the law cannot give another the right to me, or 
any thing! possess, those who frame and execute those enact- 
ments termed law, may dispossess me of that which is by right 
mine, and put it into the possession of another, in violation of 
my right to it. Were the converse of this true, if governments 
can give to others a right to my property against my consent, 
the Algerine government which authorised piracy, and regu- 
lated the possession of stolen goods, and captured persons, con- 
veyed a perfect right in these to its citizens, and they were le- 
gally and honorably employed in preying upon your merchan- 
dise, upon the high seas and in reducing to servitude your- 
selves, your wives and little ones. And the government of the 
United States may convey a perfect riglit to the persons of all 
those who came from England, or Germany to America, with 
all the property they have accumulated, to the remainder of the 
population of the country or to any individual thereof. Viewed 
thus, in its conseqences, the falsity of the third proposition is 
as apparent as that of those which preceded it. 

If the slave be the property of the master, then it is through 
the truth of the 4th proposition, viz: God has conferred upon 
the master a right to him. Many assert that Slavery is an in- 
stitution of God. 

President Shannon, of Bacon College, Kentucky, a Campbel- 
ite preacher, says : 

"Thus did Jehovah stereotype his approbation of doiwestic 
SLAVERY, hy incorporating it with the institutions of the Jewish 
religion, the only religion on earth that had the Divine sanction.^'' 

The Rev. William Graham, of the New School Presbyterian 
Church, published a pamphlet, in which he says, sec page 22, 
"The relation of master and slave is a part of the laws of Jeho- 
vah;" and again, on page 35, he declares that "Christ author- 
ized the relation in the charter of the church and in all the laws 
ever made for the regulation of the church." 

Mr. Graliam stated before his synod that his teachings on the 
subject of Slavery differed but little from many living minis- 
ters opposed to the doctrines and measures of Abolitionists. 

Mr. Graham has since been deposed. 

Rev. Alexander McCain a preacher of the Pretestant Metho- 
dist Church, made aspeech in their general conference, held in 
Baltimore, in 1842, in support of the Divinity of Slavery, and 
afterwards published a pamphlet on the same subject, which 
called forth an approbatory letter from John C Calhoun. 

Of which the following is an extract. 



"Mr Dear Sir — I have read with pleasure your pamphlet, 
entitled, 'Slavery defended from the Scriptures against aboli- 
tionists.' 

"You have fully and ably made good that title. You have 
shown, beyond all controversy, that slavery is sanctioned both 
by the Old and New Testament. He who denies it, if not blind- 
ed by fanaticism, must be a hypocrite." — Extract of a letter^ 
addressed by John C. Calhoun to Rev. A. McCain, of Methodist 
P. Church, on occasion of the reception of his pamphlet in favor 
of Slavery. 

But testimony of this kind is unnecessary, it is a matter of 
almost universal notoriety, that a large majority of the profess- 
ors of religion, in this country, sanction and uphold the sys- 
tem, and very many throw off all disguise and claim for it a Di- 
vine sanction. 

1* 



SLAVERY, 
AND THE SLAVE-HOLDER'S RELIGION. 



Sec. l.^JVhat is Slavery 7— What is a Slave ? 

The Statutes of the slave peopled regions declare " A 
Slave is one in the power of a master, to whom he be- 
longs." He is a person, a human being, created in the im- 
age of his Maker, but claimed and held as an article of prop- 
erty. Subjected to the will, whim and caprice of another 
human being like himself; he is restrained of his liberty, 
and his life is in the power of his master. He is not per- 
mitted to exercise his own will, in opposition to his master, 
and to be governed by his own convictions of right and 
propriety, but must submit to the decisions of his master 
in all respects. In short he is a person held in a condition 
which forbids the exercise of any volition of his own, of 
employing except by consent of his master, any of the God 
given rights of Humanity, and therefore, if slavery be 
fight, the slave does not in common with other members of 
the human family possess any rights, but these have been 
withheld from him by the Creator, The rights conferred 
upon us by an Omnipotent and all-wise Creator are all 
compatible with each other. If this be not true, if the 
rights of human beings conflict, then discord instead of 
harmony prevails throughout the laws and government of 
God. The master having the right to subjectthe slave to his 
will, and to decide for him, the slave can have no right to ex- 
ercise a will, and decide for himself, because if he has that 
right it conflicts with the rights of the master; conse- 
quently God has withheld from the slave the right of voli- 
tion, and deciding for himself. The master having the 
right to deprive his slave of liberty, the latter has no right 
to liberty. As the master has a right to the earnings of 
the slave, the slave has no right to earn for himeelf. Ths 
master having the right to separate the slave from his wife, 



11 

the slave has no right to a wife, or to remain with her. — 
The master having the right to take the life of the slave, 
if necessary to proceed to that extremity to enforce obedi- 
ence, and as it will be shown hereafter that he cannot hold 
the slave without exercising a power over his life, the 
slave has no right to life, but retains it only by permission. 
The possession of a right necessarily includes the right to 
employ it, and in the exercise of all our rights we never in- 
terfere with the rights of others. If we do thus interfere it is 
because we are doing that which we have no right to do. 
That is not a right which we may not exrcise. We have seen 
that if slavery is right, it has the Divine sanction, for noth- 
ing which has it not, is right. Hence it follows that some 
have a right to enslave, to hold others as slaves, and hav- 
ing that right they have also the additional one, to employ 
such means as are necessary to effect the object. If the 
master h?cve not the right to do all that is necessary to hold 
him, to employ all the means that are requisite, he can have 
no right to him. The right to the end, involves of neces- 
sity the right to employ all the means necessary to attain 
the end. 

The objector may alledge that the master has a right to his 
apprentice, and therefore a right to use the necessary means 
'of holding him, but in this instance the right is to the ser- 
vice only. By contract he agrees to render an equivalent 
for these services, which equivalent is a measure of instruc- 
tion in his art or handicraft, and subsistence for the learner 
during the period specified. Although the law allows the 
master to compel the service of the apprentice, by limited 
coercion, it holds the person of the latter sacred, and should 
the apprentice be maimed or his lifetaken by the master he 
will be punished just as if he had injured to the same extent 
another person. The apprentice has an inducement to re- 
main with and serve the master, but the slave has no in- 
ducement, unless deluded into a belief that he is under obli- 
gations to serve him. The right to hold and control an 
apprentice is limited and qualified. The power assumed 
over the slave is absolute, and unrestricted in fact, or he 
could not be retained in bondage. 

The means employed to reduce a man to slavery, and 
thus to hold him, are either to convince him he is under 
an obligation to serve his claimant — to be his slave, or to 
compel him by force to servitude, or a combination of both 
of these methods. The master in order to hold him, prac- 
tices upon his fears of visible or invisible terrors. Some 



12 

define slavery to be an obligation upon tbe part of one to 
labor for another, and an obligation on the part ot him who 
receives the service, to provide for the one rendering it. If 
this obligation be not acknowledged, coercive measures be- 
come necessary. To obtain the mastery over him, force must 
employed, the means adapted to the end. Slaves are held 
by associated power, as in order to keep men in slavery, if 
not inclined to acknowledge the obligation to servitude, 
they must be guarded on all sides. A single individual 
could not hold one slave (much less five, ten or one hundred,) 
without assistance, as he would inevitably escape, since 
the master could not always watch him. Associated pow- 
er is therefore necessary. Slaveholding communities en- 
act and enforce laws, in reference to slaves. The mem- 
bers of such a community mutually agree to be governed 
by such laws or rules, and to assist each other to enforce 
them. When the law declares a man to be my slave, if 
this law can be, and is enforced, I have him placed in my 
power, and those who enforce it, stand as guards upon the 
hill-tops, in the valleys and by the way-side. If I can con- 
vince him he is under an obligation to serve me, the end 
is effected, but if I cannot, I have a right to his services 
notwithstanding my failure, and must then invoke force as 
the only alternative. If he refuse to obey me, I apply the 
Avhip or the bludgeon to his back, or unsheathing a dirk 
brandish its glittering edge before his eyes. Still scorn- 
ing to be a slave, and no one else being in sight to assist, 
he leaves my presence. To stop his flight I point my gun, 
and threaten to shoot him down unless he returns and sur- 
renders himself to my will, convinced that I am authoriz- 
ed by you who enacted the law, to take his life if needful, 
to restrain his pursuit of liberty, and that I will execute 
my threat, his love of life, or fear of the consequences of 
disobedience after death, (for upon this point we may have 
instilled doubts into his mind) prevails, and he returns to 
my authority. Next I tie him to the whipping post and 
punish him severely, as each act of disobedience must be 
met by adequate punishment, to compel submission, or I 
brand the initials of my name with the iron hissing into 
his flesh, to inform others that he is my slave, and thus 
preclude his attempts at escape, or crop his ears that he 
may be known by my flesh marks, or place an iron collar 
upon his neck, or manacles upon his limbs, and thus drive 
him to labor. By these means and by assuring him, that 
the whole community is upon my side, and against him, 



13 

I succeed for the present, and perhaps for a life-time. — 
That the entire nation, North as well as South, professors 
of religion as well as politicians, with the exception of a 
small number of Abolitionists, who believe slaveholding to 
be criminal in the highest degree, and hence have with- 
drawn from the slaveholding compact, does thus stand ar- 
rayed against the slave the following testimony will de- 
monstrate. 

■ Says the Editor of the Marysville (Tenn.) Intelligencer, 
in an article on the character and condition of the slave po- 
pulation: — 

"We of the South are emphatically surrounded by a danger- 
ous class of beings — degraded stupid savages — who, if tbey 
could but once entertain the idea that immediate and uncondi- 
tional death would not be their portion, would re-act the St. 
Domingo tragedy. But the consciousness, with all their stupi- 
ditv, that a ten-fold force, superior in discipline, if not in bar- 
barity, would gather from the four corners of the United States, 
and slaughter them, keeps them in subjection. But, to thenon- 
slaveholding States, particularly, we are indebted for a perma- 
nent safeguard against insurrection. Without their assistance, 
the white population of the South would be too weak to quiet 
that innate desire for liberty which is ever ready to act itself 
out with every rational creature. 

In the debate in Congress on the resolution to censure 
John Q^uincy Adams, for presenting a petition for the dis- 
solution of the Union, 3Ir. Underwood of Kentucky, made 
the following statement, In speaking of the effect of a 
repeal of the Union on Slavery, Mr. U. said: 

"They (tlio South) were the weaker portion, were in the mi 
nority. The North could do what they pleased with them; 
they could adopt their own measures. All he asked was, that 
they would let the South know what those measures were. — 
One thing he knew well; that the State which he in part rep- 
resented, had perhaps a deeper interest in this subject than any 
other, except Maryland and a small portion of Virginia. And 
why"? Because he knew, that to dissolve the Union, and se- 
parate the different States composing this confederacy, making 
the Ohio river, and Mason and Dickson's line the boundary 
line, he knew as soon as that was done, slavery was done in 
Kentucky, Maryland, and a large portion of Virginia, and it 
would extend to all tlio States south of this lino. The dissolu- 
tion of the Union was the dissolution of Slavery. It liad been the 
common practice for Southern men to get up on this floor, and 
say, 'Touch tbis subject, and we will dissolve this Union as a 
remedy.' Their remedy was the destruction ©f the thing 



14 

which ihey wished to save^ and any sensible man eould see it. 
If the Union were dissolved into two parts, ihe slave wouldcross 
the line, and then turn round and curse his master from the 
other shore.' 

This declaration of Mr. Underwood as to the"entire de- 
pendence of the slave-masters on the citizens of the nomin- 
ally free States to guard their plantations, and secure them 
against desertion, is substantially confirmed by Thos. D. 
Arnold, of Tennesse, who, in a speech on the same sub- 
ject, assures us that they are equally dependent on the 
North for personal protection against their slaves. In as- 
signing his reasons for adhering to the Union, Mr. Arnold 
makes use of the following language: — 

•'The free States had now a majority of 44 in that house. 
Under the new census, they would have 53. The cause of the 
slaveholding States was getting weaker and weaker — and what 
were they to do? He would ask his Southern friends what the 
South had to rely on, if the Union were dissolved? Suppose 
the dissolution could be peaceably effected, (if that did not in- 
volve a contradiction in terms,) what had the South to depend 
upon? All the crowned heads were against her. A million of slaves 
were ready to rise, and strike for freedom at the first tap of the 
di'um. They were cut loose from their friends at the North, 
(friends that ought to be, and without them the South had no 
friends,) Tvhjther were therj to look for protection? How were 
they to sustain an assault from England, or France, with that 
cancer at their yitals? The more the South reflected, the more 
clearly she must see that she has a deep and vital interest in 
maintaining the Union." 

The Union of the States (and the establishment of a 
General Government) is a compact or an agreement entered 
into by those who are parties to that union and members 
of the government. These have vested in the National Le- 
gislature a power to suppress insurrections, and each mem- 
ber of that Legislature, before he can enter upon the du- 
ties of his office, is required to swear that he will exercise 
that power whenever it shall become necessary. 

They have also agreed with each other that through the 
agency of the Federal Government, they will protect each 
of the States against invasion, and on application of the 
Legislature, or of the executive (when the Legislature can- 
not be convened) against domestic violence. 

Thus the entire power of the General Government is 
pledged to crush the slave should he refuse to obey his 
master, (a power which has been exercised in several iii- 



15 

stances) or to repel the invader who might land upon the 
shores of America and offer the boon of freedom to the 
slave. 

The parties to the government in their organic Laws, also 
agree that the Slave held to service and labor, in any one 
State of the Union, should he escape into another, shall 
at all times be subject to be claimed by his master and 
dragged backjto bondage. In addition to this constitutional 
arrangement, Congress passed a law in 1793 prescribing 
the manner of arresting and returning fugitive slaves, 
which law is in force at this date. 

But should not all the perils which surround him by 
night and by day, the visible and invisible terrors which 
he has been assured await him, the severe punishments 
which he has suiFered, the fact within his knowledge that 
the law, its executors, and the people are arrayed against 
him to compel submission, and the dreadful certainty that 
still more severe punishments are in reserve for him, should 
he rebel or attempt to escape; — if the tyrant has not suc- 
ceeded in reducing sufficiently low the irrepressible love of 
liberty in his victim, and in extinguishing the last spark 
of hope in his bosom, the period may arrive when circum- 
stances shall fan it into a flame, and enable him to attempt 
by flight to escape from the thraldom to which he has been 
subjected. To recover him, such means as the following, 
are then considered to be necessary. The advertisements 
which follow, be it observed, are all taken from Southern 
newspapers. 

"Ranaway, a negro woman and two children; a few days be- 
fore she went off", I burnt her ivith a hot iron, on the left side of 
her face, I tried to make the letter M.'' 

Mr. Micajah Ricks, Nash County, North Carolina, in the 
Raleigh "Standard,'' July 18, 1838. 

*'Ranaway, Mary, a black woman, has a scar on her back 
and right arm near the shoulder, caused by a rifle ball.'''' 

Mr. Asa B. Metcalf, Kingston, Adams County, Mi. in tho 
*'Natchez Courier," June 15, 1832. 

Ranaway, a negro man named Henry, his left eye out some 
scars from a dirk on and under his left arm, and much scarred 
with the whip." 

. Mr. William Overstreet, Benton, Yazoo County, Mi. in tho 
"J^exington (Ky.) Observer," July 22, 1838. 

One hundred dollars reward for a negro fellow Pompey, 40 
years old, ho is branded on the left jaw. 

Mr. R. P. Carney, Clark Co., Ala., in tho Mobile Register, 
Dee. 22, 1832. 



16 

"Ranaway, my negro man named Simon, he lias leen shot 
ladly in his back and right arm.'' 

Mr. Nicholas Edmunds, in the "Petersburgh [Va.] Intelli- 
gencer," May 22, 1838. 

^ "Fifty dollars reward, for the negro Jim Blake — has a piece 
cutout of each ear and the middle finger of the left hand cut off 
to the second joint.'' 

The editor of the New Orleans "Bee ," in that paper, Aug. 27, 
1837. 

Ranaway, my man Fountain — has 7jo/es in his ears, nscar on 
the right side of his forehead — has been shot in the hindjiarts of 
his legs, — is marked on the back with the whip.'' 

Mr. Robert Beasley, Macon, Georgia, in the "Georgia Mes- 
senger," July 27, 1837. 

Ranaway, the negro boy Teams — he had on his neck an i?'on 
collar.'''' 

Mr. Lambre, in the '-Natchitoches (La.) Herald,'' March 29, 
1837. 

"Ranaway, Jim — had on when he escaped a pair of chain 
handscuffs.''^ 

Mr. \Vm. L. Lambeth, Lynchburg, Virginia, in the "Moulton 
[Ala.] Whig." January 30, 1836. 

"Ranaway, a negro named Hambleton, limps on his left foot 
where l;e was shot a few weeks ago, while runaway." 

Mr. Thomas Hudnall, Madison county. Mi., in the "Vicks- 
burg Register," Sept. 5, 1838. 

"Stolen, a negro named Winter — has a notch cut out of tho 
left ear, and the mark oi four or five buck shot on his legs." 

Mr. James Marks, near Natchitoches, La., in the "Natchi- 
toches Herald," July 21, 1838. 

"Ranaway, Bill — has several lakge soaks on his back from 
a severe whipping \\\ early life," 

Mr. John Wotton, Rockville, Montgomery county, Maryland, 
in the "Baltimore Republican," Jan. 13, 1838. 

"Ranaway, the negro Hown — has a ring of iron on his left 
foot. Also, Grise, his wife, having a I'ing and chain on the left 
leg:' 

Mr. Charles Curcner, New Orleans, in the "Bee," July 2, 1838. 

"Twenty Dollars Reward. Ranaway from the subscriber, 
on the 14th instant, a negro girl named Molly. SJie is 16 or 17 
years of age, slim n.ade, lately branded on the left cheek, 

THUS R. AND A PIECE TAKEN OFF OF HER EAR ON THE SAME SIDE ; THE 
SAME LETTEE ON THE INSIDE OF BOTH HER LEGS." 

Ab-ner Ross, Fairfield District, S. C. 



17 

The poor fugitive, successful in eluding pursuit, by those 
acquainted with his person, is still surrounded by dangers 
as great as those from which he has escaped. The con- 
spiracy against his liberty extends as far as to the utmost 
limit of the territory of this Union, and spies are abroad, 
and watch dogs on his track, though far away from the in- 
dividual who lays claim to his services. The following 
advertisements also taken from American newspapers are 
in evidence of these facts. 

NOTICE. — Was committed to the jail of Jackson county, 
Mississsippi, the 24th day of September, 1845, the runaway 
slave, NANCY. She is 22 or 25 years old, in a pregnant con- 
dition, severely whip-marked. Said Nancy says she belongs to 
one William Rogers, living near Paulding Jasper county, Miss. 
Had on, when committed, a white frock. 

A. E. LEWIS, Jailor. 

October 18,1845. 

"Was committed to jail, a negro named Ambrose — has a 
ring- of iron around his necky 

William Dyer, sheriff, Claibone, Louisiana, in the "Herald," 
Natchitoches, (La,) July 26, 1837. 

"Committed to Jail, a negro named Patrick, about 45 years 
old, and is handcuffed.^'' 

H. W. Rice, Sheriff, Colleton district. South Carolina, in the 
"Charleston Mercury,'" Sept. 1, 1838. 

''Committed to jail, a negro — had on his right leg an iron 
land v/ith one link of a chain." 

W. P. Reeves, jailor, Shelby county, Tennessee in the 
"Memphis, Enquirer," June 17, 1837. 

"Was committed to jail, a negro boy — had on a large neck iron 
with a huge pair of horns and a large har or hand of iron on his 
left leg." 

H. Gridley, sheriff of Adams county. Mi., in the "Memphis 
(Ten.) Times," Sept. 1834. 

"Commited to jail, a negro boy named John, about 17 years 
old — his back badly marked with the whip, his upper lip and 
chin severely bruised.'''' 

John H. Hand, jailor, parish of West Feliciana, La., in the 
"St. Francisville Journal," July 6, 1837. 

"Was committed to jail, a negro man — has two scars on his 
forehead, and the topofhis left ear cutoff. 

D. Herring, warden of Baltimore city jail, in the "Marylander," 
Oct. 6, 1837. 

"Notice. — Was committed to the jail of Washington County, 
District of Columbia, as a runaway, a negro woman by the name 



18 

of Polly Leiper, and her in/ani child William, * * * Says 
she was set free by John Campbell of Richmond, Va., in 1818 
or 1819. The owner of the above described iconian and child^ 
if any, are requested to come and prove them, and take them 
away; or they will be sold for theik jail fees, and other ex- 
penses, AS the law directs. 

"May 19, 1827. Tench Ring&old, Marshall." 

RUNAWAY NEGRO TAKEN. 

On the first of November I took up a runaway, and/or icant 
of a jail, PUT him IN IRONS, and shall endeavor to keep him on 
my plantation, on the Mississippi river, five miles from Ran- 
dolph. The negro'sayshe belongs to Mr. Algon Smith, about 
60 miles above Louisville, but he does not know the county or 
the nearest town, in consequence of never having lived with 
his master; that about two years ago. Smith bought him in 
Maryland, since then he has been constantly hired out; that 
he has worked at Little Sandy Salt Work^-, that his name is 
Squire. He is full six feet high, well made, and is strong and 
active, but stoops a little forward as he walks ; is about 30 years 
old. He had on when I took him, a strong cotton shirt, linsey 
(white) pantaloons, black tabby velvet vest, and blanket coat. 
He lost his hat and bundle in the cane while running from my 
DOGS. He is a negro of good countenance; black, though not 
what would be considered very black : has two small scars on 
his face, one on his forehead, and one over the right eye, neither 
of which would be noticed unless closely examined. N. ROSS, 
"Randolph, Tipton co,, Tennessee." — Louismlle Journaf Ky. 

To aid the keen pursuit, individuals make it a regular 
business to train dogs to follow upon the scent as the follow- 
ing testimony will fully prove: 

MINISTERS, HOUNDS, AND RUNAWAY NEGROES. 

The Home Missionary of the Alabama Association writing 
to the Alabama Baptist, on the subject of ministerial support, 
attributes the unwillingness of the people to support their 
preachers, in part to the teaching of tlie anti-missionary min- 
isters. And he represents one of these riding through the 
country with a train of about twenty hounds and with a brace 
of pistols, and a bowie knife projecting out of his pocket, 
showing a handle which would make a bludgeon, as his infor- 
mant told him, "large enough to kill the d 1, and thus fully 

armed and equipped, he makes his excursions, /luntm^ runaway 
negroes,'''' — Christian Polititian. 

The Missionary of the Alabama Association goes on to say: 
— "While it may be right and proper that some one should keep 
such dogs, and follow such avocation, we think it does not fitly 
become the ambassadors of Christ. Let the churches then 
awake to the subject oi ministerial support^ 

Men Hunted by Dogs! — A late number of the Sumter Co. 



19 

Whig, published at Livingston, Alabama, contains the follow- 
ing atrocious advertisement — proving, what is notoriously true, 
that it is a regular business at the South to train dogs to catch ne- 
groes, and to let them out by the day or job, to hunt the poor 
runaways in the swamps and forests! The advertisement is 
copied precisely as it appears in the Whig. Read it, men and 
women of the North! 

NEGRO DOGS. 
^ The undersigned having bought the entire pack of Negro 
Dogs, (of the Hays' & Allen stock) he now proposes to catcli 
runaway Negroes. His charge will be Three Dollars per day 
for hunting, and Fifteen Dollars for catching a runaway. He 
resides 3i miles North of Livingston, near the lower Jones' 
Bluff road. WILLIAM GAMBREL. 

Nov. 6, 1845, 

If supposed to be gone past recovery, or to be actuated 
by an indomitable love of liberty, which forbids a hope of 
pecuniary profit from the attempt to secure again his ser- 
vices, to wreak revenge upon the rebellious one, and put 
an end to the enjoyment of his existence, and also to deter 
by such sanguinary measures, all those who remain in 
bondage, from attempting a similar escape, a proclamation 
of outlawry from the civil magistrates may be resorted to, 
of which the following is a specimen as it appeared in the 
public papers. 

Judge Stroud remarks : 

"That a proclamation of outlawry against a slave is author- 
ized, whenever he runs away from his master, conceals himself 
in some obscure retreat, and to sustain life, kills a hog^ or some 
animal of the cattle kind!!" See Haywood's Manual, 521 ; 
act of 1741, eh. 24, Sec. 45. 

State of North Cakolina,? 
Lenoij' County,''^ ^ 

"Whereas complaint hath been this day made to us, two of 
the justices of the peace for the said county, by William D. 
Cobb, of Jones county, that two negro slaves belonging to him 
named Ben, commonly known by the name of Ben Fox, and 
Rigdon, have absonterl themselves from their said master's ser- 
vice, and are lurking about in the counties of Lenoir and Jones, 
committing acts of felony; — these are in the name of the 
state, to command the said slaves forthwith to surrender them- 
selves, and turn home to their said master. And we do hereby 
also require the sheriff of said county of Lenoir to make dili- 
gent search and pursuit after the above mentioned slaves; and 
them liaving found, to apprehend and secure so that they may 
be conveyed to their said master, or otherwise discharged as 
the law directs. And the said sheriff is hereby empowered to 



20 

raise and take with him such power of his county as he shall 
think fit for the apprehension of said slaves. And we do here- 
by, by virtue of an act of Assemoly of this state, concerning 
servants and slaves, intimate and declare, if the said slaves do 
not surrender themselves, and return home to their masters im- 
mediately after the publication of these presents, that any per- 
son may kill or destroy said slaves by such means as he or they 
think fit, without accusation or impeachment of any crime or 
off'ence for so doing, or without incurring any penalty or for- 
feiture thereby, 

"Given under our hands and seals, this 12ih of November, 
1836. 

B. Coleman, J. P. [Seal.] 
Jas. Jones, J. P. [Seal.] 

TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD.— Ranaway from 
the subscriber, about three years ago, a certain negro man 
named Ben, commonly known by the name of Ben Fox, also, 
one other negro, by the name of Rigdon, who ran away on the 
8th of this month. 

I will give the reward of one hundred dollars for each of the 
above negroes to be delivered to me or confined in the jail of 
Lenoir or Jones county, or for the killing of them so that I can 
see them. W. D. Cobb. 

November 12, 1836. 

The Wilmington [North Carolina] Advertiser, of July 13, 
1838, contains the following advertisement: 

"Ranaway, my negro man Richard. A reward of $25 will 
be paid for his apprehension, DEAD or ALIVE. Satisfactory 
proof will only be required of his being killed. He has with 
him, in all probability, his wife Eliza, who ran away from Col. 
Thompson, now a resident of Alabama, about the time he com- 
menced his journey to that state. 

D. H. Rhodes." 

In the Macon [Georgia] Telegraph, May 28, is the follow- 
ing: — 

"About the 1st of March last, the negro man Ransom, left 
me without the least provocation whatever. I will give a re- 
ward of 20 dollars for said negro, if taken dead or alive! — and 
if killed in any attempt, an advance of $5 will bo paid. 

Bryant Johnson.'' 
Crawford County, Ga. 

Thus is the slave hunted ; should he surrender, he is 
bound in fetters, placed in a dungeon, and scourged until it 
is believed his spirits are broken, and his love of liberty 
subdued, so that no farther attempts to escape need be 
feared. Refusing to yield to his pursuers, he is shot down 
in cold blood, and perishes. Without this power over his 



21 

life he could not be controled. It will be seen hereafter 
that to this extent it is exercised, and that the master is 
indemnified by law against any penal consequences what- 
ever for employing it, under all circumstances wherein the 
slave rebels against, or refuses obedience to his authority. 
It must be evident that he could not be retained in bond- 
age unless the master possessed this control over his life, 
or sufiicient power over liis intellect to induce the belief 
that his state of servitude was rightful, and the best for 
him. When your constables or your sheriffs pursue an 
alledged criminal they go clothed with this same power 
over life. If the person to be arrested resists, this power 
is occasionally employed, and the officer using it is held 
indemnified. The same degree of power is authorised to 
be employed over the convicts in your jails and peniten- 
tiaries. Why do you place guards upon the walls of these 
receptacles of crime, doubly armed! Why when these 
convicts are taken outside of the walls, for the purpose of 
labor, do armed men accompany them, always prepared to 
sacrifice life if resistence or escape be attempted] Is this 
array of death dealing instruments intended only for the 
purpose of intimidation, or will they not be employed in a 
case of real or imagined necessity'? They could have no 
influence to intimidate, were it not known and understood 
of all, convicts and others, that under certain circumstan- 
ces they will be employed. Thus do a few men by their 
control over the lives of many convicts, retain them in 
submission to authority. So too with the slaves who 
greatly outnumber their claimants. They are held in servi- 
tude by a power over life and limb, which they know will 
be employed. The slave feels that the threatening array 
of arms, the nightly patrols, the troops of the government 
and all the other paraphernalia of power exhibited to his 
view are not idle preparations and they intimidate only 
through the certainty they will be exercised upon him if 
he refuses submission, and that short of this he has no 
security of life. He is made to feel that on this side of the 
grave he has no helper to flee to for protection or support. 
Slaveholders do not scruple to affirm this to the world. 

Judge Ruffin, of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, 
in one of his judicial decisions says : 

" The slave, to remain a slave, must feel that there is no appeal 
from his master. No man can anticipate the provocations whicli 
the slave would give ; nor the consequent wrath ©f the master 



22 

prompting him to bloody vengeance on the turbulent traitor, a 
vengeance generally practiced with impunity by reason of its 
privacy." — See Wheeler''s Law of Slavery, p. 247. 

This is Slavery. Such means are abosolutely necessa- 
ry, and such only are adequate to subjugate the man — to 
uphold the system. There are tendencies in the human 
bosom which struggle upward in rebellion against restraint 
and arbitrary power. Like the eagle, whose tireless pin- 
ion bears him upward, and still upv/ard, in his ascending 
flight, regardless of the pressure of hurricane, or storm, 

"Who loves to see his eyrie seat — 

Some cliff on ocean's lonely shore, 

Whose old bare-top the tempests beat, 

And round whose base the billows roar, 

When lashed by gales, they yawn like graves. 

He loves for joy to skim those waves, 

Or rise through tempest-shrouded air 

All thick and dark with wild winds swelling, 

To brave the lurid lightning's glare, 

And talk with thunders in their dwelling; 

Or still his fearless flight to wing. 

Above the tempest's darksome height 

Till sunbeams to his pinions cling, 

And clouds beneath, grow grand and bright." 

As with the eagle, so with man. He loves to look upon 
the bright day and the stormy night. To gaze upon the 
broad free ocean — its eternal surging tides — its mountain 
billows — and its foam-crested waves. To tread the steep 
mountain side; to sail upon the placid river; to wander along 
the gurgling stream — to trace the sunny slope — the beau- 
tiful landscape — the majestic forest, or the flowery mead — 
to hear the roar of waters, the bellowing of the tempest — 
the howling of the winds, the music ofthe birds, the hum of 
insects. He feels that he is endowed with intellectual pow- 
ers — a capacity to perceive — to appreciate and to admire 
the terrific — the grand — the magnificent — the beautiful. — 
He is sensible of being created with a social nature, form- 
ed both to give and receive enjoyment in society — of long- 
ings after earthly perfectability — of constant wellings up 
from the inmost depths of his soul, and of a gushing forth 
of the affections of his heart after that which is beautiful 
and true. He sympathises with the sufferer, and is eager 
to afford relief, and over and above all, he experiences those 
upward aspirations towards revealed excellence, alluring 
him towards an Infinite Being, a consciousness that he 



2S 

owes a duty to him, the author of his existence, the giver 
of laws by which, in order to be happy he must be governed, 
rather than to tyrant man, who assumes the prerogative, and 
usurps the authority of God. And he believes that by perfor- 
ming that duty; by living in obedience to these laws, he will 
have begun a work of progression, that will carry him on 
still improving ; still advancing throughout the endles ages 
of eternity, until he reaches a point somewhere between 
the present position of the highest archangel, and the 
throne of the Eternal. Such is man. He will be free un- 
less enslaved by the most gross perversion of his faculties, 
or the employment of the most stringent measures to awe 
him, and subdue. 

If slavery be right, all the appliances and means neces- 
sary for holding men in subjugation, must also be right. — 
The system cannot be right, if the means and the only 
means, by which it can exist, are wrong. If you condemn 
the horrible practices, the hellish barbarities, which the 
foregoing pages exhibit, as the measures relied upon by 
the slaveholders to perpetuate their power, then you con- 
demn slavery, for there can be no effect without a cause, 
and there is no cause of sufficient power to reduce man to 
slavery, save these which have been presented. Alexander 
Campbell in common with many others, assumes the ground 
that the relation of master and slave is right ; it is the abu- 
ses only of the relation which are wrong. With the grossly 
ignorant, dispirited and crushed slave, Mr. Campbell may 
possibly succeed in establishing the belief that the rela- 
tion is right, to such an one he may preach that he owes a 
religious duty to God through obedience to his master, and 
that he will be eternally punished for violating it ; he may 
hold out the promise of salvation, to one whose intellect is 
stultified; whose moral perceptions are blunted; whose 
mind is wrapped in midnight darkness and gloom ; who ha3 
been robbed of the power of discriminating between right 
and wrong, who has been rendered unable to know any thing 
or comprehend any thing of the attributes of God, on con- 
dition that he will be obedient to his master, and add to 
this the threat of eternal punishment in a future world if 
he refuses; and possibly they may induce him to sustain that 
relation; but Mr. Campbell can never reason himself^ nor 
any person who has enjoyed the sweets of liberty, into the 
helief that he ought to be a slave. Until such an one can 
be induced to believe that it would be right that himself 
should stand in that relation, it is sheer nonsense to alledge 



u 

that slavery is right, but that the means which have been 
employed to sustain it are wrong. Mr. Campbell's own feel- 
ings and instincts would forbid him to sustain it, even tho' 
in the attempt to escape, death, with its after terrors, should 
threaten him upon the one hand, the handcuff; the iron col- 
lar; the chain; the blood-stained cowhide; the dog; the gun; 
and the dungeon assail him upon the other. 

It is frequently remarked with a show of truth, that self- 
interest will prevent the master from using unncessary se- 
verity, for should his slave be disabled, it is to his pecuni- 
ary loss. We have already seen that nothing short of com- 
plete| power over the life of the slave is adequate, to re- 
train him. The laws of the slave States attempt to desig- 
nate what is necessary violence to the slave, to insure his 
subjection, and what is wilful violence, which may be pun- 
ished in the perpetrator. Let us examine what degreee of 
submission they require of the slave, and what amount of 
severity they tolerate and uphold in the master. 

The following laws are principaly copied from Judge Stroud's 
Sketch of the Slave Laws. 

According to the law of Louisiana, "A slave is one who is in 
the power of a master to whom he belongs. The master may 
sell him, dispose of his person, his industry and his labor; he 
can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any thing but 
what must belong to his master." Civil Code^ art. 35. 

Louisiana has the following express law : 

"The condition of a slave being merely a passive one, his 
subordination to his master, and to all who represent him, 
is not susceptible of any modification or restriction, (ex- 
ceptin what can incite the slave to the commission of crime,) 
in such manner, that he owes to his master and to all his 
family a respect without bounds and an absolute obedience, 
and he is consequently to excute all the orders which he 
receives from him, his said master, or from them." 1 
Martin's Digest^ 616. 

In South Carolina it is expressed in the following lan- 
guage: 

"Slaves shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed and judged in 
law to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners and 
possessors, and their executors, administrators and assigns, to 
all intents, constructions and purposes whatsoever. 2 Brevard's 
Digest, 229. 

A slave cannot bring a suit against his master or any 
other person for an injury. His master may bring an 
action against a third person for an injury of his property. 
But this is a poor protection of the slave; for, first, it 



25 

weakens the motive of the master to protect the slave. — 
If the injury v»'ere to come upon his own pocket he would 
be more careful to prevent it. Secoudly the master can 
recover nothing, unless the injury deteriorates the value — 
which it may not do, although in itself very great. The 
Supreme Court of Maryland has decided: 

"There must be, a loss of service, or at least, a diminution ot 
the faculty of the slave for bodily labor, to warrant an action 
by the master." 1 Harris and Johnson's Reports^ 4. Cornfute 
vs. Dale. 

North Carolina has the following law: 

Beit enacted, &c. That if any person shall hereafter bo 
guilty of wilfully and maliciously killing a slave, such offender 
shall, upon the lirst conviction thereof, be adjudged guilty of 
murder, and shall suffer the same punishment as it he had 
killed a free man; Provided altaays, this act shall not extenuto 
the person killing a slave outlawed by vlriue of any act of assem' 
hly of this state, or to any slave in the act of resistance to his law- 
ful owner or master, OR TO any slave DXiNa lndzr moderate 
CORRECTION." Huywood^s Manual, 530; and see Laws of Ten- 
nessee, act of Oct. 23, 1799, with a like proviso. 

The Constitution of Georgia has the following: Art. 4, 
Sec. 12. 

*'Any person who shall maliciously dismember or deprive a 
slave ot" life, shall suffer such puuishmeat as would be iullictcd 
in case the like iiff't nee h;;d been committed on a free whito 
person, and on the like proof, except in case of insurrection of 
such slave, and unless slcu death should happen by accident 
IN GIVING such SLAVE MODERATE CORRECTION.'' Frince''s Digest, 
559. 

The following proteciinji for the limbs of the slave has 
been in force, in South Carolina from 1140 to the present 
time: 

"In case any person shall wilfully cut out the tongue, put out 
tke eye, castrate, or cruelly si'ald, burn, or deprive any slave 
of any limb, or member, or shall inflict any other cruel punish- 
ment, other than by ivhipping or beating with a horsewhip, cow- 
skin, switcii, or small stick, or by putting irons on, or confining 
or imprisoning such slave, every such person shall, for every 
such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds, current 
money." 2 BrevarWs Digest, 241. 

All of the Laws that restrict the master's power are bas- 
ed upon the assumption that the slave submits to him; but 
the following Laws in connection with the foregoing, prove 
that the Slave Laws do )iot profess to afford even the skad- 

9, 



26 

oxe of any protection even io the slave's life, unless he yields 
im'plici-t obedience. 

"If any slave shall happen to ba slain fjr refusing io surrender 
him or herself, contrary to Uw, or in unlawful resisting any of- 
ficer or other person, who shall apprehend or endeavor to appre- 
hend, such slave or slaves, &c., such officer or other person so 
killing such slave as aforesaid, making resistance, shall bo, and 
he is by this act, indemnified from any prosecution for such kill- 
Ing aforesaid, &c." Maryland Laivs, act of 1751, chap. 14, sec. 9. 

And by ths negro a':t of 1740, of 8outh Carolina, it is 
declared, 

•'If any slave, vvho slidll bo out of the hoLi~6 or plantation 
where such slave shall live, or shall bo usually employed, or 
without some white person in company with such slave, shall 
refuse to submit to undergo the examination otuny ichite person, 
it shall be lawful for sucli white person to pursue, apprehend 
and modorataly correct such slave; and if such slave shall as- 
sault and strike such white person, such slave mav be lawfully 
killed. 2 Brevard's Digest, 231. 

The following extract is taken from an address to tho 
Presbyterians of Kentucky by a committee of the Synod 
of Kentucky, signed by John Brown, Esq., Ciiairnian, 
John C. Young, Secretary. 

"Not only has the slave no right to his wife and children, he 
has no right even to himsolf. iVu very body, his muscles, liis 
bones, his flesh, are all the property of another. The move- 
ments of his limbs are regulated by the v^ill of a raaster. He 
may be sold, like a beast of the field — he may be transpori- 
©d, in chains, like a felon. 

It IS obviously our duty to assitt each other in the pro- 
tection of person and property. When your house is in 
flames, as you will be a sulTerer from its destruction, it is 
most certainly my duty to assist in exting-uishing those 
flames. If slavery is right, my right to my s'ave being 
equal to your right to your house, and as I will suffer in 
consec|u«nce of his rebelling against me, or absconding, it 
is eviaently as much your duty to assist me to hold the 
slave, as it is mine to assist you to preserve your house. — 
That religion which stands opposed to the principles and 
doctrines of ihe abolitionists, and wages a warfare upon 
them, has originated a public sentiment which has written 
itself out in the law^s heretofore quoted. This public sen- 
timent is consistent with the religion which engenders it. 
in this respect also, that it acknowledges the claims of the 



27 

master to assistance in preserving his authority, and ren- 
ders that assistance accordingly. The fugitive slavo is 
surrendered to liis master by authority of the constitution. 
The rebellious slave is chastised by the authority of lavi', 
until his submission is obtained. On many occasions the 
troops of the government have been employed in aiding the 
master, and the armies and navy of the nation, are care- 
fully stationed where they will be most useful in subserv- 
ing this purpose. The master as we have already seen, 
declares that he cannot sustain himself in that relation, 
without this assistance, and every one who remains a mem- 
ber of this slaveholding government, who consents to the 
compact which creates it a nation, however averse he may 
be to do so, has a part actively in the continuance of sla- 
very. Besides by other means, he does it in the person of 
his agent, who in the capacity of a soldier of the United 
States, is posted with loaded musket, and fixed bayonet a 
sentinel on the ramparts of slavery. Public sentiment ac- 
knowledges the claim of the master for aid and thus it is 
rendered. 

The master having a right of property in the slave, he 
has a right to sell him, which no circumstances can impair. 
Helpless parents, wife or children, unable to protect and 
sustain themselves he may have, but the master's claim of 
property is paramount to the claims of these upon him, 
and he may be sold rightfully at any moment. JohnC. 
Calhoun, it is said, sold to a Southern planter for a concu- 
bine, the wife of his coachman, for the sum of ^1400. Dea- 
con Whitfield an extra pious professor of the slave holding 
religion, of the Baptist denomination, it is believed sold 
the wife of Henry Bibb, and she is now the kept concubine 
of a Fren(;h planter. Granting for the sake of the argu- 
ment, as heretofore, that the right to property in a slave 
exists, no right was violated by these men in thus dispos- 
ing of their property, and Deacon Whitfield may continue 
to besiege his God with prayer and petition, as consistent- 
ly as before, for a blessing upon all that he is, does, and 
possesses. 

Sec. 2. — A conclusion which follows upon those already 
adduced from the premises, viz: that the slave is the mas- 
ter's property ; a conclusion that no one can with any 
show of reason dissent from, is, if the master has a right 
to the slave, the slave owes a duty to the master. This 
cannot be otherwise, as I cannot have a right to a slave 



28 

and his services, if he has the right to withhold from me 
those services. Every thing I have a right to, belongs to 
me, not to another. His services belong to me, not to 
himself, and hence it is his duty to render them. Kights 
never conflict with rights, or duties with duties; rights 
with duties, or duties with rights, but all harmonise. If I 
have a right to the slave, he can have no rights incompat- 
ible with this of mine. The person who refuses to per- 
form his duty is a sinner. The sinner cannot avoid the 
consequences of sinning ; he incurs the Divine displeas- 
ure, and must meet it. Hence as it is the duty of the 
slave to obey and vserve his master, it becomes the duty of 
the minister, the religious teacher, to instruct and enlight- 
en him in regard to this duty, and to inform him of the 
consequences of disobedience. The slave, has an immor- 
tal soul. It depends upon his conduct here, whether that 
soul shall be happy or miserable. It is the duty of the 
minister to enlighten him upon the consequences of diso- 
bedience to the master, of those never ending torments 
which are allotted to the wicked ; that the "hope which 
springs eternal in the human breast," which transports us 
to the regions of bliss, to the company of angels, where 
can be heard the voices of the redeemed, as they sing for- 
ever the praises of the lamb, can never be realized, except 
by repentance for past wrong and obedience for the future. 
*'That their hope in the Saviour must make them faithful 
and dutiful servants." 

That some ministers are faithful in the performance of 
this part of their duty, the most ample testimony can be 
furnished. That such hold out the offer of salvation to the 
slave, and promise him "the reward of the inheritance," 
on condition that he is faithful and obedient to his earthly 
masters, we shall proceed to demonstrate. 

From the Presbyterian Advocate. 

"The Synod of Virginia, at its recent meeting in Norfolk, 
passed the following resolutions: 

1. Resolved, That it be rocomraended to the ministers be- 
longing to this Synod to preach to the colored people specially 
and statedly as far as prncticable. 

^. Resolved, That the Synod would recommend, wherever it 
may be practicable, the establishment of Sabbath Schools for 
the oral instruction of the colored people." 

Reverend Wm. Meade, Bishop of the diocese of Vir- 
ginia, published a book of sermons, tracts and dialogues, 
for maeters and slaves, and recommended them to all mat- 



29 



ters and mistresses to be used in their families. Printed 
at Winchester, Va., by John Hioskel. 

In tho preface of the boolc, Bishop Moado remarks: 

"The editor of this volume offers it to all masters and mis- 
tresses in our southern states, with the anixous wish and de- 
vout prayer that it may prove a blessing to themselves and their 
households. He considers himself most happy in having met 
with the several pieces which compose it, nnd could not witli a 
quiet conscience refrain from affording to others tho opportuni- 
ty of profiting thereby." 

In this book, there arc two sermons ujmn this text. 

"Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doe-.h, the 
same shall he receive from the Lord, whether he bo bond or 
free.'' 

Two or three pages follow this text, and then appears this 
sentence: "Here masters may begin to read to their servants." 
See page 90. Then follows — 

*'I have chosen a text of Scripture which I could wish you all 
had by heart and would all remember, because it shows you 
what a great friend you may have in Heaven, if you will but 
take any pains to gain his favor." 

The providences of God are spoken of, "His making the sua 
to shine, the rain to fall, &c. ' 

And on page 93, ho says: 

"Some ho hath made masters and mistresses for taking care 
of their children andotiiors that belong to them. * *= * 
Some he hath made servants and slaves, to assist and work for 
their masters and mistresses, that provide for tliem f and oth- 
ers ho hath made ministers and teachers, to instruct the rest, to 
show them what they ought to do, and to put tliem in mind of 
their several duties." 

And on pages 94 and 95, lie soys: 

"Besides, when people die, wo know of but two places they 
have to go to, and that is heaven or hell; so that whoavcr mis- 
ses the one, mvst go to the other. Now heaven is a place of 
groat happincs-', which God hath prepared for all that aro 
good, whero they shall enjoy rest from their labors, and a 
blessedness which shall never have an end. And hell i::! a 
place ofgreat torment and miserv, where all wicked i)eople will 
be shut up vvi.h tho devil and other evil spirits, and be punished 
forever been use they will not serve God, If, tlierelore, wo 
would have our souls siived by Christ; if wo would osca])e hell 
and obtain heaven, wo must sot about doing what he requires 
af us, that is, to sorvo God. Your own poor circumstances in 



30 

this life, ought to put you particularly upon this and taking 
care of yoav souls; for you cannot have the pleasures and en- 
joyments of this life like rich free people, who have estates 
and money to lay out as they think fit, if others will run tho 
hazard of their souls, they have a chance of getting wealth and 
power, of heaping up riches and enjoying all tiie case, luxury 
and pleasuro their hearts should long aft3r. But you can 
have none of these tilings; so that if you sell your souls for tho 
sake of what poor matters you can gef in this world, you have 
made a very ioolish bargain indeed. Almighty God hath been 
pleased to make you slaves here, and to give you nothing but 
labor and p(j\erty in this world, which you are obliged to sub- 
mit to, as it is his will that it should be so. And think within 
yourselves what a terible thing it would be, after all your h - 
bors and sufferings in this lile, to be turned into hell in tha 
next life; and after wearing out your bodies in service here, lo 
go into a far M'orse slavery when this is over, and your poor 
souls bo delivered over into the possession of tho devil, to be- 
come his slaves forever in hell, without any hope of ever get- 
ting free from it. If, thcref^jre, you would bo God's freemen 
in heaven, you must strive to be good and serve kim hero on 
earth. Your bodies, you know are not your own: they are at 
liio disposal of those you belong to; but your precious souls are 
still your own, which nothing can take from you, if it bo not 
your own fault. Consider well, then, that if you lose your 
souls by leading idle, wicked lives here, you have got nothing 
by it in this world, and you have lostyouralt in the next. For 
vour idleness and wickedness is generally found out, and your 
bodies sufler for it here; and what is far worse, if you do not 
repent and amend, your unhappy souls will suffer for it here- 
after.'' 

"Having thus shown you the chief duties you owe to your 
great Master in heaven, 1 now come to lay before you the du- 
ties you owe to your masters and mistresses here upon earth. 
And for this 3-ou have one general rule that you ought always 
carry in your minds, and that is, to do all service for ihem as if 
you did it for God Imnsclf. Poor creatures I you lit'.le consider 
when you are idle and neglectful of your master's business, 
M'hen you steal, and waste, and hurt any of their substance, 
when you are saucy and impudent, when you arc tolling them 
lies and deceiving them; or when you prove stubborn and sul- 
len, and will not do the work you are set -about without stripes 
and vexation; you do not consider, [ say, that what faults you 
nro guilty of towards your masters ?iXiA mistresses, are faulta 
done against God himself, who liath set your masters and mis- 
tresses over you in his own stead, and expects that you will 
do for thorn just as you would do for him. And pray do not 
think that I want to deceive you, when I tell you that your 
masters and mistresses are God's overseers; and t'latif vou arc 
faulty towards them, God himself will punish you severely for it 



ih the nsxi world, unless you repent of it, and striv* to mak« 

amends by your faithfulness and diligonco for the time to come, 
for God h'ims:?lf hath doclarod the same." — See page 104. 

"Now from this general rule, namely, that you are to do all 
jtcrvicG for vour masters and mistresses as if you did it for God 
himself, there arise saveral other rules of duty towards your 
masters and mistresses, which I shall endeavor to lay out in or- 
der before you, 

*'And in the first plnce, you are to bo obedient and subject to 
your masters in all things. * * And Christian ministers 
ere commanded to 'exhort servants to be obedient unto their 
own masters, and to please thorn woU in all things, not answer- 
ing them again, or gainsaying.' You see how strictly God re- 
quires this of you, that whatever your masters and mistresses 
order you to do, you must set about it immediately, and faith- 
fully perform it, without any disputing or grumbling, and tako 
care to pleaso them well in ail things. And for your encour^ 
agomenthe tells you that ho will reward you for it in heaven: 
because while you aro honestly and faithfully doing your mas- 
ter's business here, you are serving your Lord and Master in 
hoaven. You see, also, that you are not to take any excpptions 
to the behavior of your masters and mistresses, and that you 
•are to bo subject and obedient, not only to such as are good, 
and gentle, and mild towards vou, but also to such as may ha 
froward, peevish, and hard. For you aro not at liberty to 
choose your own masters, but into whate&'cr bands God hath 
been pleased to put you, you must do your duty, and God will 
reward you for it. 

2. You aro not to bo eye sen-ant?. Now eye servants are such 
as will work hard and soem mighty diligent while they think 
any body is taking notice of them, but when their masters' and 
mistresses'' backs aro turned, they are idlo and neglect their 
business. I ani afraid thero are a great many such eye ser-. 
vants among you, and that yovi do not consider how great a 
sin it is to be so, and how severely God will punish you for it- 
You may easily deceive your owners, and make them have an 
opinion of you that you do not deserve, and get the praise of 
men by it; but remember that you cannot deceive almighty 
God, w!io sees your wickcdnoss and deceit, and will punish 
you accordingly. For tho rule is, that you must obey your 
masters in all things, and do the work they set you about with 
foar and trembling, in singleness of heart as unto Christ; not 
with eye service as men pleasors, but as the servants of Christ, 
doing the will of God from tlio heart; with goodwill doing 
service as to the Lord, and not as to men. If, then, you would 
but say within yourselves, 'My master hath set mo about this 
work, and his back is turned, so that I may loiter and idlo if I 
please, for ho does not soe me; but there is my great Master in 
heaven, whose overseer my other master is, and his eyes are al« 
ways upon mo and lakin'j notice t»f ma, and I cannot get tny 



whero out of his sight, nor bo idle without his knowing it; and 
what will become of mo, if I lose his good will and make hinn 
angry with me]' if, I say, you would once get iho way of 
thiaking and saying thus upon all occasions, you then would 
do what God comuiaads yuu, and sorve your masters with sln- 
glencsii of Jieart, that is, with honesty and sincerity, and do the 
woik you are sot about with fear and trembling, not for fear of 
your masters and mistresses upon earih, lor you may easily 
cheat t'lom, and mako them bcliovo you are doing thoir 
business when you do not, but with fear and trembling lest 
God your heavenly Master, whom you cannot deceive, should 
call you to account, and punii>h you in the next world, for your 
deceitfulness and eye service in this. 

3. You are to be iaiiliful and honest to your mnsteis and 
mistresses, not purloining, or wasting thoir goods or substance, 
but showing all good fidelity in all things. * * Do not your 
masters, under (rod, provide for you? And how shall they be 
able to do this, to feed and to clothe you, unless you take hon- 
est care of every thing that belongs to tliem ? Remember that 
God requires this of you, and if you arc not afraid of suflVring 
for it here, you cannot escape the vengeance of almighty God, 
who will judge between you and your masters, and make you 
pay severely in the next world, for all tlie injustice )0U do 
them here. And though you could mannge so cunningly as to 
escape the eyes and h^'.nds of man, vet think what a dreadful 
thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, who is able 
to cast both soul and body into hoU ! 

4. You are to serve your masters wit't; cheerfulness, rever- 
ence, and humility. You are to do your mas;iers' service with 
good will, doing it as the will of God from tlio heart, without 
any sauciness or answering again. How many of you do things 
quite otherwise, and instead of going about your work with a 
good will and a good heart, dispute and grumble, give saucj 
answers, and behave in a surly manner! There is somethinj^ 
so becoming and engaging in a mod st, cheerful, good natured 
behaviour, that a little work done in that manner seems better 
done and gives fi'.r more satisfoctitm than a great deal more 
thnt miiet be done with frett'ng, vexation, and the lash always 
held over you. It also gains the good will and love of those you 
belong to, and makes your own life pass witli moro ease and 
ploasure. Besides, you are to consider that this grumbling and 
ill will docs not affect your mnsicrs and mistresses (mly. They 
have ways and means in thoir hir.ds of forcing you to do your 
work, whether you are w iiling or not. But your murmuring 
and grumbling is against God, who hath placed you in that ser- 
vice, who will punish you severely in the noxi world for des- 
pising his commands." 

And again on page 116: 

*'All t/imgs whatsoever ye icoukl that rnen should do unto 
you, uo yc even so unio them; lliat is, do by all mankind just as 



33 

ycu would desire they should do by you, if you were in thsir 
placo and they in yours. 

"Now to suit this rule to your particular circumstances; sup- 
pose you wero masters and mistresses and had servants 
under you, would you not desire that your servants 
should do their business faithfully and honestly, as well when 
your back was turned as while you were looking over them ? — 
Would you not expect that they should take notice of what you 
said to them? That they should beiiave themselves with re- 
spect towards you and yours, and be as careful of everything 
belonging to you as you would be yourselves? You are 
servants, do therefore, as you would wish to be done by, and 
you will be both good servants to your masters, and good 
servants to God, who requires this of you, and will rewaid you 
well for it, if you do it for the sake of conscience, in obedience 
to his commands." 

Accordinof to tliis construction of the golden rule a rob- 
ber upon the hig-hway could put a pistol to a traveler's 
breast and demand his purse; he could say, Sir, ifyou were 
a robber and in my place, and I was in yours, would you 
not desire that I should hand my purse over to you, "c/o 
therefore as ynu would wish to be done hy,'^'' They in fact say 
to the Slave Ifyou were a slaveholder and were daily and 
hourly robbing human beings of all their earnings, of 
everything dear to humanity, would you not desire that 
your victims would submit to your outrages'! You are 
slaves, therefore you must do as you would wish to be 
done by, and submit to these outrages. One would suppose 
that devils would blush to justify the wrong they do by 
such bare-faced perversions as the above. 

Then again on pages 131 and 132: 

Take care that you do not fret or murmur, grumble ox repine, 
at your condition; for this v.ill not only make your life uneasy, 
but will greatly off nd Almighty God. Consider that it is not 
youiselves — it is not the people that you belong to — it is not 
the men that have brought you to it — but it is the will of God, 
who hath by his providence, made you servants, because, no 
doubt, he know that condition would be best for you in this 
world, and help you the better towards heaven, if you would 
but do your duty in it. So that any discontent at your not 
being free or rich, or great, as you see some others, is quarrel- 
ing with your heavenly master and finding fault with God him- 
self, who hath made you what you are, and hath promised you 
as large a share in the kingdom of heaven as the greatest man 
alive, if you will but behave yourself aright, and do the busi- 
ness he hath set you about in this world honestly and cheer- 
fully, Riches and power have proved the ruin of many an 
2* 



34 

unhappy soul, by drawing away the heart and affections from 
God and fixing them on moan and sinful enjoyments; so that 
when God, who knows our hearts better than we know thom 
ourselves, sees that they would be hurtiul to us, and, therefore, 
keeps them from us. It is the greatest mercy and kindness ha 
could shovv^ us. 

You may perhaps fancy, that if you had riches and freedom, 
you could do your duty to God and man with greater pleasure 
than you can now. But pray, consider that if you can but save 
your souls, through the mercy of God, you will have spent your 
time to the best of purposes in this world; and he that at last 
can get to Heaven has performed a noble journey, let the road 
be ever so rugged and difficult. Besides you really have a 
great advantage over most white people, who have not only the 
care of their daily labor upon their hands, but the care of look- 
ing forward and providing necessaries for to-morrow and next 
day, and of clothing and bringing up their children, and of 
getting food and raiment for as many of you as belong to their 
families, which often puts thom to great difficulties and distracts 
their minds so as to break their rest, and take off their thoughts 
from the aflfairs of another world. Whereas you are quite 
eased from all these cares and have nothing but your daily 
labor to look after, and when that is done take your needful 
rest. Neither is it necessary for you to think of laying up 
anything against old age, as white people are obliged to do; 
for the laws of the country have provided that you shall not be 
turned off when you are past labor, but shall be maintained 
while you live, by those you belong to, whether you are able to 
work or not. And these are great and real advantages, for 
which, if you consider things rightly, you cannot but thank 
Almighty God, who hath so wisely provided for your well be- 
ing here, and your eternal happiness hereafter. There is only 
one circumstance which may appear grievous, that I shall now 
take notice of, and that is corkection. 

Now when coiTcction is given you, you either deserve it, or 
you do not deserve it. But whether you really deserve it or not, 
it is your duty and Almighty God requires that you bear it 
patiently. You may, perhaps, think that this is hard doctrine, 
but if you consider it right you must needs think otherwise of 
it. Suppose then, that you deserve correction, you cannot but 
say that it is just and right, you should meet with it. Suppose 
you do not, or at least you do not deserve so mucli, or so severe 
a correction for the fault you have committed, you perhaps havo 
escaped a groat many more, and are at last paid for all. Or 
suppose you are quite innocent of what is laid to your charge, 
and suffer wrongfully in that particular thing, is it not possible 
you may have done some other bad thing which was never 
diecovered, and that Almighty God who saw you doing it 
would not let you escape without punishment one time or 



35 

another? And ouglit you not in sueli a case to give glory tt 
Him, and be thankful that ho would rather punish you in this 
life for your wickedness, than destroy your souls for it in the 
next life? But suppose that even this was not the case, (a case 
hardly to be imagined,) and that youhave by no means, known 
or unknown, deserved the correction you suffered, there is thi» 
great comfort in it, that if you bear it patiently, and leave your 
cause in tlie hands o[ God, he will reward you for it in heaven, 
and the punishment you suflsr unjustly here, shall turn to year 
exceeding great glory hereafter." 

With the success which attends this Bpecial religious 
instruction, the slave owners and others directly interest- 
ed with them, in some instances find occasion for gratifica- 
tion but in others of disappointment. 

Dr. Ijailey, the editor of the Cincinnati Herald and Phi- 
lanthropist, writing- from Stony Creek. Sussex county, Va. 
October 26, 1844, states that he attended a Baptist meet- 
ing there, and that "the minister before commencing his ser- 
mon, read a certificate from the owner of a slave present, 
stating that his woman Rhoda had his consent to unite 
with the Baptist Church. The preacher remarked that it 
was the custom of the Baptists, all througii the South, to 
admit no slave to their fellowship without the consent of 
the master. The woman was then called forward to giv© 
her experience. He asked her divers questions. What led 
her to seek a hope in the Saviour ] She " had a desire to." 
Had she felt any distress? Yes — she was in mighty dis- 
tress for a long time. Why v^^as she distressed l She was 
afraid to die because she had led a bad life. Had she now 
hope in Christ? O, yes — every day. Had she seen her 
way clear, ever since her change ? Yes — all the time. — 
Had her hope in the Saviour led her to feel the duty of '•!>«- 
ing a dutiful servant?'' Yes. The preacher here turned to 
the congregation, and observed, that this was a question he 
always put. Whatever others might do, he never would 
baptize any servant, whatever his desire and profession, if 
his religion did not make him a dutif'il, faithful servant." 

I have heard Dr. Brisbane state in an anti-slavery meet- 
ing and reiterate it in the social circle, that on his visit to 
South Carolina in 1844, a slave-holder there told him that 
religion had done more for him v/ith his slaves than four 
waggon loads of cowskins. 

For the purpose of securing a meeting of persons favor- 
able to the Religious Instruction of the negroes there waa 
addressed to a number of gentlemeUj chietiy Planters and 



36 

Laymen in the States of North Carolina and Georgia a 
circular, dated Charleston S. C. March 1845, which sought 
for information upon the influences of this religious in- 
struction, upon the discipline of plantations, and the spirit 
and subordination of the negroes. This was sinned by 
Daniel E. linger, late U. S. Senator and twenty-three oth- 
ers. The following- replies were published in ihe proceed- 
ings of a Convention held at Charleston from 31 ay 13 to 15, 
1845, by those issuing this circular, and such other per- 
sons as they succeed in interesting in their objects. 

James Edward Menry writes from Spartansburgh Dis- 
trict, May, 1845, as follows: 

"A near neighbor of mine, a prominent member of the 
church to winch ho belonged, had contented himself with giv- 
ing his peop'e the usual religious privileges. About six months 
ago he commenced giving them special religious inslruction. 
Ho used Jones' Catechism principally. * * Ho states that 
he has now comparatively no trouble in their management." 

Thomas Cook writes from Marlborough District, May, 
1B45: 

"Plantations under religlo'is instruction are more easily gov- 
erned than those that are not.'' 

John Dyson writes from Sumpter District, May, 1845: 

"Upon the discipline and subordination of plantations, re- 
ligious instruction will be found generally and decidedly ben- 
etli-ial." 

William Curtis writes from Richland District, May, 
1845: 

**I have found the owners of plantations around not only 
willing but desirous that we should preacli to their negroes i 
and they find as they expect, a better spirit and subordination 
among them." 

James Gillam writes iVom Abbeville District, May, 
1S45: 

"The deeper tlie piety of tho slave the more valuable is hs 
in every sense of the word." 

Nicholas Wnrc writes from Brownsville, Marlborough 
District, May, 1845: 

"AH our negroes have, to a great extent, grown up under re- 
ligious instruction. * * We scarcely here of depredations 
upon stock, &c. They are more obedient and more to b« d©- 



I 



I 



37 

pcndcd oa. We havo few or no runaways, and corporeal pun- 
ishment is but seldom resorted to." 

N. R. Middleton writes from St. Andrew's Parish, May. 
1845: 

"A regard to self interest s'lould lead every planter to give 
his people religious inslruction.'' 

John Rivers writes from Colleton District, May, 1845: 

"Religious instruction promotes the discipline and subordi- 
nation on plantations." 

This circular referred to above, also sought for informa- 
tion as to "whether any of the ministers or relig-ious teach- 
ers were persons of color, under what regulations their 
teaching was admitted and what is its practical result." 

J. Stuart Hanchel writes from St. Andrew's Parish, 
May, 1845: 

"Planters generally are encouraged by the good resulting 
from religious instruction, and I refer you to their testimony. 
There are colored methodist and baptist religious teachers, and 
the 'practical results' of the teaching of these preachers, or 
class leaders, or watchmen, so far as my experience goes, are 
decidedly bad.'' 

J. Grimke Drayton, writes from Charleston, May 1845. 

"Of iheir own accord, my people planted and tended year 
before the last in their own time, a missionary crop. They 
made $16 00 which was appropriated to the extension of the 
Gospel. 

Tho children have all been taught Jones' catechism entirely.'* 

A committee of the above mentioned convention, appoin- 
ted to prepare the proceedings for publication, of which tho 
Rov. C C. Jones was chairman, appended to their report, 
extracts from the reports, of the action of ecclesiastical bod- 
dies submitted to them upon the religious instruction of ne- 
groes. And first, of the Episcopal Clmrch. 

*' It is well known that the venerable Bishop Meade of 
the Diocese of Virginia, has for very many years been a 
zealous, and able, and untiring advocate of this good work, 
as well as a laborer himself in the field. He has several 
times brought the great duty of evangelizing tiie negroes 
before his diocese; and in his efforts he is now ably sup- 
ported by the assistant bishop, Dr. Johns. Of the memorial 
of the Presbytery of Georgia to tlie Southern Presbyteries 
on the religious instruction of'negroes, IJishop Meade re- 



38 

marks, •' I am rejoiced to see the different religious denomi- 
nations of christians in our Southern country taking- up this 
subject in a more decisive manner than ever before ; and 
hope they may stimulate each other ^ by such addresses to im- 
mediate and zealous action.'^'' Bishop Ives of the Diocese of 
North Carolina has prepared a catechism and put it in 
circulation, intended for the benefit of the colored charges 
of his clergy, and for the domestic instruction by the lai- 
ty at home. Several clergymen of this diocese are much 
engaged in discharging their duty to the negroes connected 
with their congregations. Second, the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church. 

The catechising of the children and youth is a promi- 
nent part of their labor. Dr. Capers' catechism, prepared 
expressly for the purpose is extensively used. Third, the 
Baptist Church. 

The Alabama State Convention of Baptists at its meet- 
ing in Tuscaloosa Nov. 1844, took up the subject of the re- 
ligious instruction of the negroes, with much solemnity 
and zeal. A committee on the religious instruction of the 
negroes, presented resolutions expressive of the obligations 
of the convention to impart the Gospel to the negroes, and 
their determination to do so by every means in their pow- 
er. At the late convention in Augusta, Georgia, made up of 
delegates from all the slaveLolding states, for the purpose 
of separating from the Northern portion of that church, 
very spscial mention v/as made of the negroes inthe South, 
as a field for missionary labor, and claiming the attention 
of the church in its new organization. This argues well 
for the negroes in the Baptist Church South.* Fourth, 
the Presbyterian Church. 

*The Savannah Kiver Baptist Association, in reply to the question, 

"Whether, in a case of involuntary separation, of such a character as to 
preclude all prospect of future intercourse, the parties ought to be allowfrd 
to marry again, 

Answer — 

" That such separation among persons situated as our slaves are, is civilly 
a separation by death, and they believe, that, in the sight of God, it would 
be so viewed. To forbid second manuagcs in such cases, would be to ex- 
pose the parties, not only to stronger hradships and strong temptation, 
but to church censure, for acting in obedience to their masters, who can- 
not be expected to acquiesce in a regulation at variance with justice to 
the slaves, and to the spirit of that command which regulates marriage 
among Christians. The slaves are not free c^e?)i5, and a dissolution by 
death is not moi'e entirely without their consent, and beyond their control, 
than by such separation." 

Elder John Peck, a Baptist minister of the State of New York in writing 
home from Georgia, says : " he travelled in company with one Caesar Black- 
amoor, who was a Baptist minlstcr,-B.\\(\ a slave the property of the Geor- 
gia Baptist Association. 



39 

The movement in this church in favor of the religous in- 
struction of the negroes, for the last ten years has been 
gradual, and for two years rapid and extensive ; more so 
than in any previous years within our recollection." 

A committee of ten with Daniel E. linger as chairman, 
was appointed by the meeting to prepare and publish an 
address to the holders of slaves in South Carolina. The 
committee says : 

"We are led by this consideration to another topic, upon 
which several papers in the report give a gratifying testimony, 
namely the effects of the religious instruction of negroes upon 
labor and upon discipline, * * A wise management would 
combine kindness with discipline, and aim at making labor ef- 
fective and the laborer happy. * * Would we most natur- 
ally look for effective labor m the dissolute, and unprincipled, 
and the discontented? or in those who are godly and honest, 
regular in their habits, and satisfied with their condition!'' 

The Charleston South Carolina Mercury has become 
perfectly satisfied with these missionary efforts among the 
slaves. Previous to the Convention above referred to thii 
paper said: 

"No longer than ten or twelve years since, when the plan of 
sending the missionaries to our blacks was first entered upon, 
we all remember the opposition it raised among many of our 
planters who were averse to it as an innovation fraught with 
ill consequences, they could not tell what, but which they wore 
determined not to "risk. As all thinking men foresaw, their 
fears have proved perfectly groundless, and we venture to say, 
not one who has made the experiment but will heartily sub- 
scribe to the soundness of Bishop Berkley's observations; what 
prejudice still exists v/e are sure a few years more of trial will 
remove. '' 

The Presbyterian of the West, of September 19, 1844, 
an organ of the Old School Church, in speaking of Long 
Cove church, Abbeville, S.C., says, "The colored congre- 
gation varies from 300 to 350. Instruction especially 
adapted to Ihem is regularly administered." The same pa- 
per of the same date published a memorial, of which the 
following is an extract. Observe — this paper the Presby- 
terian of the West, is published at Springfield, Ohio, a non- 
slavholding State. As this memorial was unaccompanied 
with editorial or other comment, and as the Editor indulg- 
ed himself in much pious felicitation at the success of the 
instruction "especially adapted to the negroes of Long Cove 
church," he is to be understood as fully endorsing what fol- 
lows: 



40 
MEMORIAL, 

OF THE PRESBYTERY OF GEORGIA TO THE PRESBYTERIES OF THE 
SOUTHERN STATES, ON THE RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTUN OF THE NE- 
GROES. 

Extract from the Minutes. 

"The Committeo appointed on the Memorial to the Southern 
Presbyteries, made a report, and the Memorial presented was 
received and adopted, and it was then 

"■^Resolve//, That the Memorial bo signed by all the mem- 
bers of the Presbytery, and that one thousand copies be printed 
at the expense of the Presbytery, and copies bo transmitted not 
only to the Stated Clerks, but also to all tlie members of tho 
Southern Presbyteries, and to vacant churches in the South, 
and 

'''■Resolved, also, That the Memorial be printed in the leading 
Religious Journals of the Church." 

Attest. C. C. Jones, Stated Clork. 



MEMORIAL. 

Darien, Georgia, April 6, 1844. 
Reverend aud Dear Brethren, 

Having been engaged in tho Religious Instruction of the 
Negroes for ten years past, and having attentively watched tho 
progress of feeling and of effort on tho subject in our own 
Church, we have come to the deliberate conclusion that the 
time has fully arrived for our church to take up this great work 
in sober earnest and give it that prominence and support 
which its importance demands. 

Before presenting our views on the course of action which 
in our judgment seems advisable for the church to adopt, per- 
mit us to suggest a few considerations, connected with the Re- 
ligious Instruction of the Negroes and somewhat introductory 
to the object which we have in view in addressing you at tho 
present time. 

Tho multitude of Negroes in the United States, demands our 
serious attention. 

The population of slaves in the United-States in 1790, was 
697,897; in 1800, 89.3,041 ; in 1810, 1,191,364; in 1820, 1,538,- 
064; in 1830, 2,009,031; and in 1840,2,487,355. The rate of 
increase Irani 1790, to 1840, was27 per cent., from 1890 to 1810, 
33 per cent., from 1810 to 1820,29 per cent., from 1820 to 1830, 
30 per cent., and from 1830 to 1840, 23 per cent. Supposing 
the rate of increase for every ten years to come will be 25 per 
cent., we shall have in 1850 over 3,000,000, in 1860 over 3,800,- 
000, in 1870 over 4,800,000, and less than forty years from this 
time, in 1880, over 6,000,000! 

While we are thus glansing at the provisions for the chris- 



41 

tianizatioa of tho negroes, wo most noi forget tho important 
fact thnt thoy do not read tho word of God and that they can- 
not have preaches of tlioir own color in sufficient numbers nor 
of sufficient ability to supply their wants; and thus far, w© 
have not been able to secure Ministers and Missionaries to sup- 
ply tlie destitutions of tho whites, and if thoy suffer, tlio ne- 
groes must necessarily suffer more. Indeed there are extensive 
districts uf our country but seldom visited by Ministers of any 
kind, and there are hundreds and thousands of neiiroes who live 
from year to year without hearing the voices of those who bring 
glad tidings of salvation to perishing men! And thus will 
they live and die if Missionaries are not sent to them. If we 
now put all thcs3 things together, the conclusion will be forced 
upon us, that we have not begun sej-iousbj to seek ;ho salva- 
tion of this people, nor to attempt any adequate supply of thoir 
gpiritual wants. 

Nor should we forgot tliat this class of our population is de- 
pendent upon us for all the efficient and valuable religious I'n- 
struciion which they receive. 

They arcsarvants, and as such are dependent upon theirow- 
ners. The law of the land makes and can mak« no provision 
for their religious instruction. That instruction is committed 
toovi'ners, as tho instruction of children is to parents, and they 
can give or withhold it at pleasure. We owners and Minister's, 
are '■Hhe Ahnoncrs of divine mercy to them,^'' and if wo do not 
open tho door oi Salvation, they may grope their way into a mis- 
erable cteriiitv; for they have no power of any kind to origin- 
ate, and establish, and carry forw.ird Church organizations and 
Associations for their own benefit. They are entirely depen- 
dent upon us for the Gospel of salvation. 

But wliilfi so dependent, thoy are most accessible. They speak 
our own language, arc within our households, around our doors?, 
connected with our Churches, nay, more, they arc owned by 
our Churcli members, and by our ministers. No law forbids 
their oral instruction. Owners, in great numbers, mourn over 
the spiritual condition of their people, and welcome tho labors 
of Ministers and Missionaries among them, and give every ac- 
cess to them. Even men of the world throw wide the door of 
access to their negroes. The negroes themselves are open to in- 
struction, they willingly and in most instTnces joyfully receive it. 
Any Minister in tho South can have a field of labor among tho 
negroes if ho desires it, and will be at the pains to interest them 
in himself and in his preaching. 

Brethren, we are not straitened in the master nor in the ser- 
vant, but in ourselves. We need moro of the humble, self-de- 
nying fervant spirit of our Divino Lord. 

And shall wo urge the point that it is our duty to evangelize 
the negroes. 

Who dare deny it ? God in his providence imposes it upon us; 
for this peoph have in a most mysterious manner been remoned 



4S 

from their ou-.i heathen land and transported to theBe shores and 
literally planted in the bosom of the christian church. God hue 
■made us their masters and guardians. His purposes touching 
them arc in part developed. He says to tho churcli ot'Ciirist in 
these United States, take these Heathen and lead them into life 
etei-nal through the knowledge of Jesus Christ iinj Son. Yeg, 
He has made it our great duty to do so in His ]]'ord, vJiere the 
relation of master and servant is recognized., and ho distinctly 
addresses masters and requires them to provide as well forthoir 
souls as the bodies of their servants. 

Wc need soiiie open decided action upon the part of the 
Church — some arrangement made whereby this field may be 
brought prominonily and permanently before the Church, and 
occupied as fast and as far as we may be permitted to do. 

For bringing about this object so desirabio, no plan has re- 
CDmmended itself so pleasantly to our minds as thi?. That tha 
Assembly's Board of Domestic Missions include tho Negroes in 
their field ot labour and endeavor to furnish moans and labour- 
ers for it as Providence shall open the way. And this is tho 
epecial subject which we would present for your consideration 
and action in this memorial. 

Our reasons for referring this work to tho Assembly's Board 
of Domestic Missions, are the following: 

1. Becauso the negroes come properly under tiiis Board. — 
They form a field for Domestic Missions if any people do. 

2. Because the Board is the regularly constituted and estab- 
lished agency of our Church and is recognized as such andia 
known and confided in throughout our bounds, and on this 
ground has tlie decided advantage of any other Board or agen- 
cy wliich we might form for the purpose. 

3. The Board can without any additional expense to itself of 
means and agencies take this field. 

4. And wc have every confidenc: in the Board that it will 
conduct tho business entrusted to it, judiciously and safely and 
to tho entire satisfaction of tho Southern Churches and to the 
country at largo. 

And wc think there aro decided benefits resulting from the 
plan WG propose. 

1. The work of tlie religious instruction of tho negroes will 
be put upon a permanent and efficient basis. It will live while 
the Church lives,! and the necessity for acton is felt. Tlio en. 
tire Churcli will be pledged to it. The negroes both in the free 
and slave states will share in our eftorts. 

2. There will be a fountain of information opened on ilio 
subject of religious instructi.ui of the negroes, and also in res- 
pect to fields to be occupied. A treasury will also be prepared 
into which contributions may bo poured from every part of the 
United States; and a source of supply of ministers and mission- 
aries made known, to which Presbyteries, Church Sessions, 
Associations, or individuals may apply for labourers. 



43 

It must be borne in mind, howsver, that the Board will noi 
commission and send out h\bouier:j into the Sonthcrn field to 
search out locations, a$ in a foreign lield. But the Board will 
only supply men and means when applied to for them, so that 
it will be the assistant, the agent of the Southern Church. The 
ministers and missionaries wiil be sent out at our own request 
and bo under our own control when they arrive and cuter upon 
their duties. 

3. TheefTect on the Church will bo good. The fact that this 
(ield has been referred to and been taken by the Board, and the 
constant publication of its receipts and expenditures and ef- 
forts in it, will call the great body of our ministers and mem- 
bers to consideration and action. It will siimlate those now in 
the field, encourage the desponding and avv;iken the inactive, 
and it will invite many, especially our young ministers and mis- 
sionaries into it. A demand for labour being created, w© 
should hope to see a supply cquol to the demand. 

The minds of ministers and memhors will be drawn off from 
abstract questions of a civil and apolitical nature, v,-ith which, 
as Christians, engnged in evano-olizing the world, wo have little 
to do, and they will be presented with away wherebvthey may 
practically gratify all their benevolent sympathies for the ne- 
groes, in the best manner possible. Our attention, as a Church, 
will be turned to the great question before us, and indeed bo- 
fore all other denominations, and which should take precedence 
of all other questions touching the negroes, shall this people be 
saved or lost? And we may add, that beholding the Church 
taking up this good work in sober earnest, opjiosition to us will 
bo allayed, and one of the strongest objections to the system 
which prevails at the South, weakened if not destroyed. 

That you may be put in possession of the views and feeling 
of the Board, we will refer you to a letter from the Secretary 
to one of our number on the subject : 

"PniLADELrHIA, FEBniARY, 27, 1844. 

Reverend C. C. Jones. 

"My Dear Brother: — Your favour of the 12th instant came 
to hand several days since. I have delayed an answer until I 
could submit to 'the Executive CommiUee of our Board of 
Missions. The Committee met yesterday, and I now communi- 
cate their views and feelings. The Committee, which is com- 
posed of the most active members of the Board, expressed a 
deep interest in the object, and if the Southern Churches can be 
brought fieely, of theirown accord to commit thismatter to their 
Board and pledge them their conHdonce and united cordial 
sup[jort, 1 am persuaded your Board will bo found ready to take 
hold of it with energy, and to manage it in such way as the 
Southern Churches will suggest and approve. The subject 
you know, my Brother, is one of great delicacy, and will require 
much wisdom and grace too, to mn.najro to the advantao-Q and 



44 

satisfaction of all concerned. And in ordor to accomplish this 
great and desirable object, the overture must come from tlie 
Southern Churches; they must open the way, and lead in tho 
matter. 

"And now, may brother, suffer me to say to you for myself, 
your communication has awakened aniiitereslin my own mind 
and heart that I cannot express. The moral and religious in 
struction of your colored population is in n)y view an object 
at this moment, of greater n;agnitudc and importance than any 
other which can be presented to our Churches; and if the way 
can be opened lor our whole Church, embarking wisely in this 
great and good work, I shall consider it as one of the most de- 
cided tokens of God's favour to our Church and land. When 
I received your letter, knowing the deep interest which Dr. 
Alexander, of Princeton, and his son Rev. James W. Alexander, 
feel on this subject, and wishing their counsel I enclosed your 
letter in one to tho Doctor, and begged him to submit it to his 
son. The Doctor was sick and unable to write, and the Rev. 
James W. Alexander wrote for both. His letter in reply is of 
thrilling interest. He says, he considers tins as "at once the 
nearest, the most promising and the most obligatory of all our 
enterprises, and all oiher Missions seem to him to have inferior 
claims; and that there is nothing conceivable which seems to 
him to lie so plainly before the American Churches as their im- 
mediate imperative dutv." Such are tho feelings expressed in the 
letter, and such, my brother, are ".he feelings of many, very 
many good and sound men in the North. And on this subject, 
I think lam prepared to say, theSouth may trust tlieir Board. — 
I know them well, and feel safe in making the remark. 

"And now, my brother, what plan shall be adopted to obtain 
from our Southern Presbyteries and Synods an expression of 
their free, full, and honest wishes in regard to this matter? If 
theSouth will come forward and cordially invito tho whole 
Church to unite with them in the work, they will open tho way 
for a great and good work. Ciod will approve, and the Church, 
and the land be blessed. Write to me again and toll me your 
plans, and if the remncnt of my life can bo made in the small- 
est degree instrumental in aiding in tho accomplishment of an 
object, so great, so noble, so goo(l,I shall feel that I have not lived 
altogether in vain. Tlie Lord prosper you in your good work. 
Affectionately, your brother. 

William A. McDowell." 

This letter speaks for itself. Tho views and feelings of the 
Board are before you. We need not odd any thing further to 
stir up your hearts and minds on this important subject. We 
feel confident that you will entertain this memorial in a spirit 
of brotherly love, and give it your prayerful consideration, and 
may wo not express the hope, nay more, tho conviction, that 
it will commend itself to your approval, for we think that the 
glory of Christ, the salvation of souls, the welfare oi our county, 



45 

and tho prosperity of our Church are In a large mot.sure involv- 
ed in it. After you have taken action, if it will not bo im- 
posing too much trouble, we should be glad to know through 
your Stated Clork, or in any other way you may deem prefer- 
able, your decision. 

The Lord seems to be preparing us for some decided and 
general action. The day is not far distant when the Church 
will look back with amazement and grief at her present care 
lessness and inactivity. Tho subject is one which we must 
meet inthe Judgment Day! At that day it will rise up in awful 
magnitude. We shall then bo struck with amazement that it 
commanded so little of our attention on earth. Well may we 
ask, what will become of our own souls in that great day of 
inquisition, if they are found stained with the blood of multi- 
tudes, whom we allowed to perish in ignorance and in sin, 
when God made it our duty, and put it into our power to give 
them tho light of life! Let us unite in our Savior's name, and 
enter heartily and pcrseveringly upon this great work which He 
has given us to do. 

Commending ourselves to your prayers, and offering our own 
for you in all your labours in tho ministry, and for tho peace, 
purity, and prosperity of the Church, we subscribe ourselves 
affectionately your brethren in Christ. 

Ministers — William McWliire, D. D., Robert Quarterman, 
Charles Colcock Jones, Washington Baird, Isaac Stockton 
Keith Axson, John Winn, John Jones, Henry Axtell, Alexander 
Wilson McCIure. 

Elders.— Alexander Mitchell, Edward B. Baker William J. 
King, Thomas S. Clay, Joseph Cumming, John Ashmoro. 

The Rev. C. C. Jones who figuers so largely in the pro- 
ceeding's of the Charleston convention, and in the memorial 
of the Presbytery of Georgia has a section in his catechism 
prepared for the "oral instruction" of servants "on the 
duties of servants" in which is the following language. 

"Q Is it right for tho servant to run away, or is it right to 
harbor a runaway? 

"A. No. 

"Q. What did the apostle Paul to Onesimus, who was a 
runaway? Did he harbor him, or send him back to his master? 

"A. He sent him back to his master with a letter.* — 

Mr, Jones has been himself laboring for some years as a 
missionary among the slaves, and in his last, the tenth anual 
report, respecting the efforts of himself and others in this 
work, Mr. Jones informs us, that some of the slaves are 

♦Those questions and replies will indicate the character of a book so gen- 
erally approved hy tho«e who are engaged in this special religions instructioH 
of slaves. 



46 

opposed to this kind of teaching and remain unconverted, 
••I was preaching" says he "to a large congregation on 
the Epistle to Philemon; and when I insisted upon lidelity 
and obedience as Christian virtues in servants, and upon 
the authority of Paul, condemned the practice of running 
away, one half of my audience deliberately rose up and 
walked off with themselves, and those that remained looked 
anything but satisfied, either with the preaclier or his 
doctrine. After dismission, there was no small stir among 
them: some solemnly declared 'that there was no such an 
epistle in the Bible;' others 'that it was not the gospel;' 
others, 'that I preached to please the masters;' others, 'that 
they did not care if they ever heard me preach again." 

Dr. Lafon who was once an owner and trafficker in slaves 
himself says: 

"In tlie Slavo States of this country, it is claimed that there 
are many thousands of slaves who have been hopefully ( on- 
verted to God. Without undertaking to say that these supposed 
conversions are spwious, ice do say on the iestivionyof those well 
qualified to form a correct opinion in the premises that the religion 
of a large portion of the degraded slaves, consists chiefly in su- 
perstition, faiiatical practices, and an ohsequious servility to the 
tyrants who rule them.'''' 

Rev. Joshua Bouclier, fornurlv a nnnistcr of tlie Methodist 
Episcopal Church, who withdew from that church and is now a 
preacher auKnig tho Weslcyans, states that the slaves of the 
South aro told that G)d made thorn black with the design that 
they should be slaves; and that, when travelling and preach- 
ing in tlie South, another preacher, belonging to the sama 
church, related the following conversation, v.diich took place be- 
tween himself and a slave boy : 

r^Iinister. "Have you any religion." 

Boy. "No, sir." 

Minister. "Don't you want religion V 

Boy. "No, sir.'' 

Minister. "Don't you love God?" 

Boy. "What! me love God, who made me with a black skin 
and white man to whip me!" 

A man, who had been hold as a slavo near Gen. John^ H. 
Cocke's plantation, in Virginia, where a meeting-house was 
erected to afford slaves an opportunity of listening to special 
preaching, asked mc if it was in the Bible that he should be a 
slave, and said they had always told him it was there, that they 
(the colored people) should be slaves. 

When asked if he believed that it was right he should 
be a slave he placed his hand upon his heart and replied, 
"No! I can feel that it is not right." 



47 

Frederick Douglas, tiic elo(juoKt fugitivo slnvy tells us of a 
Methodist class loader, who tied up a slave woman, and flogged 
hor till tlie blood streamed down her back; and when he had 
finished his brutal task, he quoted to her the text, "He tiiat 
knoweth his master's will and doeth it not, shall bo beaten 
with many strij)es." 

He states that many of the slaves can never be induced 
to believe these doctrines, or in the language of Dr. Lafon, 
become "converted." They attribute the effort to sinster and 
avaricious motives, rather than to any desire for the salva- 
tion of their souls. Mr. Douglass is at the present date, in 
Europe and the following is an extract from a speech of hia 
lately delivered in Glasgow, Scotland and published in the 
Glasgow Argus. The cheers and laughter, show what es- 
timate his audience place upon a slaveholdiiig religion, the 
religion of America. Mr. Douglass said: 

"The ministers of America held the keys of the king 
dom, in which his brothers and sisters were confined in 
bondage. He charged them with being guilty in this mat- 
ter. [Cheers] He had heard their preaching, and knew its 
effects on the minds of the slaveholders^ and the minds of 
the slaves. He had heard probably from time to time, that 
the slaves had religious instruction. Well, he admitted that 
he had religious instruction — but what kind of religious in- 
struction did they suppose] He v/ould tell them. The 
slaveholder — for they had slaveholding ministers — would 
take the text, — " Servants obey your masters," he would 
divide it into four separate heads, and here he was going to 
imitate the preacher, for he wanted to show tiiem canting- 
ly, how piously he might appear, wlien in the service of 
the wicked one himself. He had seen them shed tears too; 
and when he was young, he thought to shed tears showed 
truely what a man was in such circumstances, but he had 
learned since he knew something of the crocodile, that 
neither tears nor prayers, in all cases, indicated perfect sin- 
cerity. [Applause.] He would now let them hear this 
Doctor of Divinity, if he cotild get on a face long enough. 
3Ir. D. continued: — " Servants obey your masters." You 
should obey your masters, in the first place, because your 
happiness depends on your obedience. [Cheers and laugh- 
ter.] Now, servants, such is the relation constituted by 
the Almighty between cause and effect, that there can 
be no happiness neither in this v.-orld nor the world to 
com? save by obedience — [Laughter] — and it is a fact, that 
wherever you ^eo misery, wretchedness and poverty, want 



48 

and distress, all is the result of disobedience. [Renewed 
Laughter.] Peculiarly is this case with yourselves. Un- 
der the providence of God you sustain a very peculiar re- 
lation to your masters. The tevin ^^ servant'' in the text 
means slave; and you will of consequence perceive that 
this is a message to you by the mouth of the Apostle ; so 
as a preacher of the gospel I beg you to listen to the words 
of wisdom. [Great laughter.] 

I said that it was peculiarly the case that your happi- 
ness depends upon your obedience. It is verily true, and 
suffer me to illustrate this position by the statement of a 
fact. A neighbor of mine sent his servant Sam into the 
fields to perform a certain amount of labor which ought to 
have taken him the short space of two hours and a half. 
Now, by the way his master was a pious soul, and after 
having waited till the expiration of the time which he had 
allotted to Sam for the performance of the work, he went 
out into tlie field, as he was accustomed to do, for tiie pur- 
pose of ascertaining why Sam was detained. [Laughter.]' 
When he went, lo and behold, there lay Sam's hoe in one 
place, and Sam fast asleep in the corner of the fence. — 
[Great laughter and cheers.] Think of the feelings of 
that pious master. [Laughter] Oh! it was a trying sit- 
uation for a servant of the Lord to be placed in. He went 
"to the law and to the testimony" to know liis duty, and he 
there found it written, tliat " the servant who knovveth his 
master's will and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many 
stripes." Accordingly he took up Sam, and lashed him 
till he was not able to bear it. Now this is the point I 
want to come to. To what was Sam's whipping tracea- 
ble '? [Cheers and laughter.] Solely to disobedience. — 
[Much laughter.] If you would be happy therefore, and 
not be whipped, you will avoid sleeping when you should 
be working, for if you would enjoy and live under the sun- 
ehineofyour master's good pleasure, let me implore you as 
one who loves your souls "be obedient to your masters." 
[Laughter.] You should obey your masters, in the second 
place, because of a sense of gratitude for your present situa- 
tion compared to what it might have been. You sliould be 
inspired by aknovvledge of the fact, that the Lord, in his 
mercy, brought you from x\frica to this Christian country. 
[Laughter.] Oh ! this is an important consideration, and 
one to which I will call your attOLtion for a few moments. 
Your fathers ; and I dread to enter upon the picture; were 
taken from Africa; degraded lost and ruined Africa; darkness 



19 

maybe said to cover tluit earth, uiid gross darkness that 
people — to be brought into the sunshine of this land of 
freedom, [Laughter.] Your fathers were living destitute 
of the luTowledge of the gospel — destitute of all tlir<^e civ- 
ilizing influences which you find surrounding you in this 
new region — destitute of religion, and bowing down to 
stocks and stones, and worshiping images. While you 
VTQi'Q in this state of deep despair ihe Lord put it into the 
minds of good men to leave their homes, to leave their fam- 
ilies, and brave the perils of the ocean, that they might 
snatch you as brands from the burning, and bring you to 
this country. [Great applause and laughter?]* I will 
now go to another liead of my text. Thirdly— [a laugh. J 
You should obey your masters, in the third place, because 
of your being adapted to your present condition. Now, 
servants it is one of the peculia^r marks of the wisdom of 
the Almighty, that whenever he establislies a relation 
among mankind heaccompanies it with evidence of its fit- 
ness, and of the adaptability of the parties to their several 
conditions. The relation of husband and wife, parent and 
child, the relation of ruled and rulers, of sovereign and 
subject, and so on, all show this mark of adaptation. So the 
relation of master and slave ! Permit me to point out to 
you some of the peculiarities and cliaracteristics which 
show most conclusively that you should be content to fill 
the very situation which you now find yourselves placed 
in. For instance, you haveliard hands, strong forms, robust 
constitutions, black skins and curly hair. [Cheers and 
laughter.] On the other side, we have soft hands, long 
and tender forms, delicate constitutions, and white skins. 
[Renewed cheers and laughter.] Oh ! I wish to ask you 
from whence come these differences'? " It is the Lord's 
doings and marvellous in our eyes." [xShouts of laughter 
and applause.] Now your hard hands and robust consti- 
tutions amply fit you to labor under our burning sun in the 
position in which you find yourselves placed ; while your 
masters and mistresses cannot labor thus. [Applause.] — ■ 
*The memorial of tlie Presbytery of Georgia States; "And shall ws 
urge the point that it is our duty to evangelize the negroes? Who dare 
deny it? God in his providence imposes it upon us ; for this people have, 
in a most mysterious manner been removed from their own heathen land and 
transported to these shores and liieraliy planted in the bosom of the Chris- 
tian Church. God has made us their ma!?tcrs and Guardians." And on 
page 99 of Bishop Meads' book : "Hath he not brought you out of a land pf 
darkness and ignorance where your forefatliers knew nothing of him, to a 
country where you may come to the knowledge of the onlv true God, and 
learn a sure way to heaven." It is also claimed that John NcAvton the Af 
rican slavetrader was a pious man long before he gave up that Ireffic. 

s 



50 

You have no imaginatioii of the terrible effect ot'tke s«ii 
on the white people. Did you see your mistress how care- 
fal she was to raise the parasol above her head when she 
came to the door, because the sun has a very injurious ef- 
fect upon the white people I The Lord has blessed you 
with black skins and strong constitutions ; but, ah ! boast 
not of your strength — boast not of those advantages, for 
while he has given you these advantages he has also giv- 
en us powers wliich mutually benefit us. [Loud applause.} 
You have not so much intellect as we have, so tiiat you 
cannot take care of yourselves, nor provide for yourselves,, 
and you would be in a most wretched condition if ever the 
Lord were to leave you to be guided by your own inteiJects. 
Thank God that we take care of you. Oh ! the wisdom 
of God who made one class to do the thinking, while anoth- 
er does the working!. [8houts of laughter and applause.} 
He hoped they would now allow him to say Amen. 

The foregoing supplies ue with the most ample proof, the 
most indubitable evidence, that the slave is instructed to 
believe that he owes a duty to his master as a part of his 
religious creed, and if slavery is right, who will undertake 
to say such special religious instruction is wrong] If the 
slave owes a duty, it is right to inform his mind in regard 
to that duty, and to exhort him to its performance. A re- 
ligion which tolerates and sanctions slavery, cannot con- 
sistently with itself, teach the slave any duties, the per- 
formance of which will interfere or conflict with those he 
owes to his master. It claims rights for the master, and 
consequently may not teach duties which infringe upon, or 
impair those rights. AsChristhas said,<'ye cannot serve 
two masters" so the slave if rightfully held, owes his first 
and only duty to the man, who claims him as property, and 
thus if he is rightfully held as a slave, he is rightfully 
taught in the religious instruction which he receives, to 
yield his obedience and duty where it is due. 

Christianity teaches all men that they owe a duty to 
Grod, to themselves, to parents, brothers, sisters, wives, 
children, to the widow and the fatherless, the poor and the 
needy, to do to others as we would wish them to do to us. 
The performance of these duties which Christianity en- 
joins, evidently would interfere with those which the slave 
owes to the master, and the master having the right (as 
we have agreed to consider in this argument) to the slave, 
and hie services, all else which interferes with the perfor- 



51 

mance of the slave's duty to him, undoubtedly must bd 
wrong. If this be not so, then there are no such things as 
immutable principles of right and wrong, and rights clash 
with rights, duties with duties, and discord rules trium- 
phantly throughout the universe! It is agreed by all to 
be the duty of those who profess to be the teachers of truth 
and righteousness to discountenance every thing which 
conflicts with the duties of individualsj and if the sldve is 
the property of the master, as Christianity interferes with 
the rights of the master, and may guide the slave contin- 
ually into that which is contrary to the wish and will of 
the master, then are the slaveholding professors of religion 
justifiable, and to be praised and honored in their attempts 
to discountenance the preaching of Christianity, and to 
fasten the stigma of infidelity upon those who promulgate 
its principles. I am happy to avail myself of the author- 
ity of the Methodist Episcopal Church in confirmation of 
this view of the subject. In the General Conference of 
that church assembled in Cincinnati, O., I806, the follow- 
ing proceedings were adopted with great unanimity of sen- 
timent. 

"Whereas great excitement has pervaded this country 
on the subject of modern abolitionism, which is reported 
to have been increased in this city recently, by the unjus- 
tifiable conduct of two members of the General Conference 
in lecturing upon, and in favor of that agitating topic ; 
and whereas such a course on the part of any of its mem- 
bers is calculated to bring upon this body the suspicion and 
distrust of the community, and misrepresent its sentiments 
in regard to the point at issue ; — and whereas in this as- 
pect of the case, a due regard for its own character, as 
well as a just concern for the interests of the church con- 
fided to its care, demand a full, decided, and unequivocal 
expression of the views of the General Conference in the 
premises. Therefore 

Resolved, — By the delegates of the Annual Conferences 
in General Conference assembled, that they disapprove in 
the most unqualified sense, the conduct of the two mem- 
bers of the General Conference, who are reported to have 
lectured in this city recently, upon and in favor of modern 
abolitionism. 

Resolved, — By the delegates of the Annual Conferences 
in General Conference assembled, — that they are decided- 
ly opposed to modern abolitionism, and wholly disclaim 



52 

thf right, wish, or intention, to interfere in the civil and 
JDolitical relation between master and slave, as it exists in 
the slave holdino; states of this Union." 

Accompanying these resolutions, as they went forth to 
the world to "define the position" of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church on this question, was a Pastoral Address to 
the churches, which contains the follow^ig passages : 

"These facts which are only mentioned here as a reason 
for the friendly admonition which v^^e wish to give you, 
constrain us as your pastors, who are called to watch over 
your souls, as they must give account, to exhort you to ab- 
stain from all abolition movements and associations, and to 
refrain from patronizing any of their publications, &Ci 

"From every view of the subject which we have been 
able to take, and from the most calm and dispassionate sur- 
vey of the whole ground, we have come to the conclusion, 
that the only safe, scriptural, and prudent way for us, both 
as ministers and people, to take, is wholly to refrain from 
this agitating subject^" &c. 

It will be seen in the action and expression of this con- 
ference, and in the pastoral letter of the Bishops, there is 
the solemn declaration that they have no right to inter- 
fere, and consequently they condemn any action or course 
which does interfere with, or impair the rights of the mas- 
ter. Thus while the Methodist Episcopal church refuses 
to condemn slaveholdingas a sin, and rebuke him who prac- 
tises it as a sinner, but fellowships him and acknowledges 
his right to the slave as property; itmantains a consistent 
character, and position on the question, and in declaring that 
it has no right to interfere and impair the rights of the 
master, it necessarily and specially condemns that which 
does interfere and teach the slave duties conflicting with 
those he owes to his master. Christianity does this, that 
church sustains the right of the master, and wars upon 
Christianity, for in teaching that slavery is right, the two 
being opposed it is compelled to teach that Christianity is 
wrong. 

What is Christianity — its principles, and the duties it 
enjoinsi ".Tesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. 
And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
bor as thyself; on these two commandments hang all the 
law and the prophets." — Matthew xxii : '37, 38, 39, and 



53 

40. In these two commandments we discover but ono 
principle laid down, and that is love. That which the 
apostle says "worketh no ill to a neighbor, but is a fulfil-' 
ment of the law." But why is the second like unto the 
firstf We are required to love God supremely, but only 
required to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is only by 
learning that our neighbors are as ourselves, that we are 
enabled to understand that the second commandment is 
like unto the first. God is supreme in all his attributes, 
supreme in all his rights, therefore we are required to love 
him supremely. Our neighbors have the same attributes 
as ourselves, the same rights, and hence we are required 
to love them as ourselves. 

We are to love God in accordance with his attributes and 
rights, our neighbors in accordance with their attributes 
and rights ; herein consists the likeness. Our neighbors 
being as ourselves, are in every respect endowed by the 
Creator with the same rights that we are endowed with. 
Hence if I have a right to life, every other human being 
has also. If I have a right to liberty, so has every other 
person. If I have a right to pursue happiness others have 
the same. If I have a right to worship God in accordance 
with the dictates of ray own conscience, so has every. hu- 
man soul. If I have a right to protect, support, and com- 
fort my parents, wife, children, so have all others. If I 
have a right to the products of my own labor, so has eve- 
ry one else. But again, we cannot love God, without lov- 
ing his'Rttributes-— at least such as are revealed to us. We 
know some of his attributes to be creative power, justice, 
• mercy, benevolence. If we hate the works of his creative 
power, we cannot love the power from which they proceed. 
If we hate justice or mercy, we cannot love God, for these 
are his attributes, and so with all of those by which he is 
characterised. The apostle said we could only give evi- 
dence of our love to God by evidence tliat we love our 
brother. Hence if I hate justice I shall be opposed to it 
and in favor of its moral opposite, injustice, and being op- 
posed to the one, and in favor of the other, I shall be un- 
just to my neighbor. The evidence of my love for, or ha- 
tred of, justice, can be found only in my conduct towards my 
fellow man. And so of my love for benevolence or its moral 
opposite malevolence. My conduct towards others is the 
criterion of my love for this, or any otlier attribute of 
God, and as a consequence of my love to God, or of my 
hatred of, and opposition to him, 'i'he Psalmist eaid, "yfe 



54 

that love the Lord hate evil." If we love him we are in 
favor of him, we are for him, and his attributes. If we 
love evil we are opposed to its moral opposite, goodness ; 
hate it, and thus in hating- his attributes, hate God. — 
Says the apostle, "love worketh no ill to a neighbor, but 
is the fulfilment of the law." Love has a moral charac- 
ter and a moral opposite ; hatred being the moral oppo- 
site, it works ill to a neighbor, and is a violation of the 
law. IJence that which works ill to another is a viola- 
tion of the law. To work ill to a neighbor is to be op- 
posed to him, to hate him ; he that doth this and says he 
loves God, the apostle declares to be a liar. But the 
question arises, what is it to work ill to another ? We 
have seen that our neighbors are as ourselves — that we 
are to be for, and in favor of their rights, as we are for 
and in favor of our own, to love them as we love ourselves. 
Hence Christianity requires that we shall not violate the 
Jaw of love, by striking down the rights of others, or by 
any aggressions upon them. But beyond this negative 
duty, it positively enjoins us to do something. The apos- 
tle James says, "Pure religion and undefiled before God 
and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the wid- 
ows in their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from 
the world." The same authority says, "If a brother or 
a sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of 
you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and 
filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things 
needful for the body, what doth it profit] Even so faith 
without works is dead, being alone." And in the twenty 
fifth chapter of Matthew Christ teaches us as follows: — 

32. "And before bim shall be gathered all nations: and he 
shall separate tliem one from another, as a shepherd divideth 
his sheep from the goats; 

33. "And he shall set the sheep on his right liand, but the 
goats on the left. 

34. "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, 
Come, ye blessed of my P'ather, inherit the kingdom prepared 
for you from the foundation of the world. 

35. "For I was an liungored, and ye gave me meat: I was 
thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye took 
me in; 

36. "Naked, and ye clothed me j I was sick, and ye visited 
me : I was in prison, and ye came unto mo. 

37. "Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when 
saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave 
thee drink? 



38. "When saw ^Ye thee a stranger, and took thee in? or na- 
ked, and clothed thee? 

39. "Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison and eame unto 
•thee? 

40. "And the King shall answer and say unto thera^ Verily, 
I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 
ieast of thesa my brethren, } e have done it unto me. 

4i. "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, De- 
pa.n from me, ye cursed into everlasting- fire, prepared for tho 
-devil and his angels:: 

42. "Fori was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat" I was 
thirsty, and ye gave rae no drink;: 

43. "I was a stranger, and ye took me not in : naked and y 
clothed me not: sick and m prison and ye visited nie not. 

44. "Then shall they also answer him, saying Lord, when 
saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, 
■or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 

45. "Then shall he answer them, saying. Verily, I sny unto 
you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of ilie least of these, y« 
-did it not to me." 

Here we have enjoined upon us positive duties, which 
we must perform in order to fulfill the law of love, and 
work no ill to another. If we refuse to aid those in afflic- 
tion, but leave them to pine in v»^an^, to suffer^ or to die 
with disease, or from the ag"gressive injustice of others, 
without rendering them the whole aid of which we are ca- 
pable, we work ill to them^ oppose them; do not love them. 
Again Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments, 
if ;a man love me he will keep my words. He that loveth 
me not, keepeth not my sayings, and the word which ye 
hear is not mine, but the father's which sent me." And in 
his interview with the Lawyer, after relating to him the 
parable of the good Smaritan, his injuction to him was to 
go and do as the Samaritan had done. He tells us to "do jus- 
tice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God." '* There- 
fore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye 
even so unto them, for this is the law and the prophets." 
As we would have others, recognize, reispect and regard our 
right to life, to liberty, to the pursuit of happiness, so rec- 
<>gnize^ respect, and regard the right to liie^ to liberty, to 
ihe pursuit of happiness of every other human soul. As 
we would have regarded our right to worship God in ac- 
cordance with our own consciences, to provide for the wel- 
fare of ourselves and those naturally dependent iipon us for 
protection and comfort, our riglit to cJaim the aid and as- 
sistance of others in our necessities, so regard the right of 
all others to the same co-cxtensive, and co-ordinate with 
our own. 



56 

These duties are enjoined upon all alike. God, it is em- 
phatically deplared, is no respecter of persons. »' B© ye 
called of no man master, for one is your master; even 
Christ, and all yc arc brethren." "Call no man master." 
"'No man can serve two masters." So far from giving 
any countenance to wrong and violence, to any assault upoa 
IhQ rights of others, Jesus taught, " But I say unto you 
which hear, love your enemies, do good to them which 
hate you. Bless them that curse you, and pray for them 
which despitefuUy use you, and persecute you. Whosoev- 
er shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the oth- 
er also ! For if ye love them which love you what reward 
have ye'? donot even the publicans the same! "The Apostle 
Peter illustrates our duty in this respect, by referring us to 
the example ofChrist himself, in subbmittingto wrong rath- 
er than to employ v/rong. Just as we treat others, do we 
teach them to treat us; if we do not respect their rights, 
we teach them not to respect ours. 

Christianity by thus inculcating that the slave has equal 
rights with the master, teaches that tlie master is outrag- 
ing these rights, and thatin accordance with its principles 
no man can be held as a slave. By teaching the slave that 
he is subject to the same duties as others, it teaches him 
he cannot remain a slave, since his duties as such, and his 
duties as a christian perpetually conflict. It forbids also, the 
employment of the only means and measures whicli arc ade- 
quate to hold human beings in bondage. Slavery and Christi- 
anity being thus demonstrably inconsistent, and incompati- 
ble witli each other, it is further demonstrated that wliich- 
ever may be right, the other must be wrong. That the 
Methodist E. Church does stand on the side of slavery 
and therefore opposed to Christianity, its own acts testify. 
The slave laws in their opposition to Christianity, proceed 
upon the same principle. Tliey assert the right of the 
master, and are framed for the purpose of maintaining 
them. The public sentiment which created these laws, 
has been formed by, and is controlled by professors of relig- 
ion. These laws are but an authoritative expression, of 
public sentiment, those professors of religion assisted to 
enact them, and aid in their execution. Charles T. Tor- 
rey interfered with what these laws asserted to be the 
rights of JMr. Ileckrote of Baltimore, by doing to some 
slaves as, had their circumstances been reversed, he would 
have wished them to do to him. For his practical appli- 
cation of the golden rule, these laws executed by these 



57 

professors, immured him within the walls of a penitentiary. 
Thompson, Work, and Burr, violated no statute law 
in antempting to assist some slaves to cross the Miss- 
issippi, which they in reversed circumstances would have 
desired done for them, but public sentiment did what there 
was no law provided to do, and they too were consigned to 
a dreary prison life. The laws of some of the States 
provide severe penalties for the (crime,) of speaking or 
writing againtt slavery. Louisiana has provided what 
she conceives to be adequate penalties against those mas- 
ters who practice "cruel punishment" upon their slaves, but 
still heavier penalties does she impose upon those who re- 
lieve a poor slave, chafed, and galled into perpetual misery 
by the irons placed upon his person, as appears from the 
following : 

" If any person or persons &.c. shall cut or break any iron 
chain or collar, which any master of slaves should have used in 
order to prevent the running away or escape of any such slave or 
slaves, such person or persons so offending shall, on conviction, 
«fcc., be lined not less than two hundred dollars, nor exceeding 
one thousand dollars; and suffer imprisonment for a term not 
exceeding two years, nor less than six montjis.'' Act of As- 
seinhly of March 6. 1819 — pamphlet., page 64. 
What the religion and the public sentiment is of that region 
of our country where slaves are found on the soil, fellow- 
shipped as it is by the religion and public sentiment of the 
North, we will now proceed to show by a variety of testi- 
mony. 

In the triennial convention of the Baptists, held in 
Philadelphia in 1844, Dr. Brisbane attempted to speak of 
his repentance of the sin he had committed in once hold- 
ing slaves. The slaveholders, and the northern professors 
of a slaveholding religion, stung to the quick by this im- 
plied ceusure of their own conduct, would not permit him 
to proceed. 

Miss Harriet Martineau the celebrated authoress trav- 
eled throughout the Southern states, and remarks: 

"Of the Presbyterian, as well as other clergy of the South, 
some are even planters, superintending the toils of their slaves, 
and making purchases, or effecting sales in the slave-markets, 
during the week, and preaching on Sundays whatever they can 
devise that is least contradictory to their daily practice. I 
watched closely the preaching in the South — that of all denom- 
inations — to see what could be made of Christianity, "tho 
highest fact in the Rights of Man,'' in such a region. I found 
the stricter religionists preaching reward and punishment in 
eonnection with modes of belief, and hatred to tho Catholics. J 
3* 



58 

fauud tke more philosophical preaching for or against materi- 
alism, and diverging to phrenology. I found the more quiet 
and "gentlemanly'' preaching harmless abstractions, — the four 
seasons, the attributes of the Deity, prosperity and adversity, 
&c. I heard one clergyman who always goes out of the room 
when the subject of negro emancipation is mentioned, or 
when slavery is found fault with, preach in a southern city 
against following a multitude to do evil. I heard one noble 
religious discourse from die Rev. Joel Parker, a Presbyterian 
clergyman, of New Orleans; but except that one, I never heard 
any available reference made to the grand truths of religion, 
or principles of morals. The great principles which regard 
the three relations to God, man, and self, — striving after per- 
fection, mutual justice and charity, and christian liberty, — 
were never touched upon. Meantime, the clergy were preten- 
ding to find express sanctions of slavery in the Bible; and put- 
ting words to this purpose into the mouths of public men, who 
do not profess to remember the existence of the Bible in any 
other connection. The clergy were boasting at public meet- 
ings tliat there was not a ppriodical south of the Potomac 
which did not advocate slavery; and some were even setting 
up a magazine, whose "fundamental principle is, that man 
ought to be the property of man." The clergy, Vv'ho were to 
be sent as delegates to the General Assembly, were receiving- 
instructions to leave the room, if the subject of slavery was 
mentioned; and to propose the cessation^of the practice ol 
praying for slaves." 

This same Rev. Joel Parker of whom she speaks, when 
on a visit to New England, preached about the sins of the 
South, Information of this reached New Orleans before 
his return, and when he landed upon the wharves of that 
city, he was^met by an infuriated mob, which compelled 
him, in order to save his life, to retract the obnoxious sen- 
timents, and to apologise for what he had said. Since 
then he has been recreant to every principle of justice and 
humanity. 

The Rev. Amos Dresser writes: 

"On my return from Nashville in 1835, I called on the Rev. 
J. W. flail of Gallatin, thirty miles from Nashville, and sliall 
not soon forget tho kindness shown me by himself and family. 
In speaking of the moral desolation of the country, he gave it 
as his opinion, that if slavery continued five years longer, there 
would not be found a devoted minister of the Gospel in all the 
south; and added, 'If I should preach the whole truth to my 
people, I could not stay with them threo months." 

Mmos Dresser. 

Mr. Hall has since that period become converted to 
slavery, Religion and in the midst of the Abolitionists ai 



59 

Dayton Oliio he fearlessly preaches against their doctrines 
and maintains the interest and rights of the slaveholder. 

Amos Dresser was apprehended in Nashvillo, Tenn. on sus- 
picion of be-ing an abolitionist — brought beforo a Vigilan<:e 
CommittoG, of whom seven were members of the Presbyterian 
Church, and one a Campbellite minister — and sentenced accord- 
ing to Lynch law, to receive 20 laskes with a cow.sltin on kis 
bare back. He says, 

^'Among my triers, was a great portion of the respe-ctability 
of Nashville. Nearly half of the whole number professors of 
Christianity, the reputed stay of the Church, supporters of the 
caase cf benevolence in the form of tract and missionary Soci- 
«ties and Sabbath Schools, several members, and most of the 
elders ©f the Presbyterian Church, from whose hands, but a 
few daj's before, I had received the emblems of the broken 
foody and shed blood of our blessed Saviour."(!''-0 

The Editor of the Georgia Chronicle, a professor of 
religion, said that Dresser ought to have been hanged as 
high as Haraan and left there to rot upon the gibbet until 
She vi^ind whistled through his bones. And added, the cry 
€f the v/hole South should be, death, instant death, to the 
Abolitionist wherever he is caught. 

Rev, Thomas S, Witherspoon of Alabama, to the edi- 
tor of "The Emancipator." 

"When the tardy process of the law is too long in redressing 
our grievances, we of the South have adopted the summary 
remedy of Judge Lynch — and really I think it on^e of the most 
wholesome and salutary rem-edies for the malady of Northern 
fanaticism that can he applied, and no doubt my worthy friend, 
the Editor of the Emancipator and Human Rights, would feel 
the bettea- of its enforcement, provided he had a Southern ad- 
tninistrater. Lgo to the Bible for my warrant in all moral mat- 
ters, * * * Let your emissari«s dare venture to cross the 
Potomac, and I cannot promise you that their fate will bo less 
than Haman's. Then beware how you goad an insulted, but 
xnagnanimous people to deeds of desperation,'' 

William S. Plummer, D. D. Virginia: 

[To the Chairman of a Committe of Correspondence, 
appointed by the citizens of Richmond to oppose the pro- 
gress of anti-slavery principles at the South.] 

♦*1 have carefully watched this matter from its earlest exist- 
ence, and every thing I have seen and heard of its charaetor, 
both from its patrons and its enemies, has confirmed me, be- 
yond repentance, in the belief that, let the character of Abo- 
litionists be what it may in the sight of the Judge of all the 
earth, this is the most meddlesome, imprudent,reckless, fierce, 
and wicked excitement I ever saw, I am willing at any lim? 



that the world should know that such are my views. — A few 
things are perfectly clear to my mind. 

"1. The more speedy, united, firm and solemnly resolute 
but temperate the expression of public opinion on this subject 
in tho whole South, the better it will be for the North, for slave- 
holders, and generally for the slaves. 

-'2. If Abolitionists will set the country in a blaze, it is 
hut fair that tkeij should have the first warming at the fire. 
* * * * *■ 

"Lastly — Abolitionists are, like infidels, wholly unaddicted 
to martyrdom for opinion's sake. Let them understand that 
they will be caught, if they come among us, and they will take 
good heed to keep out our way. There is not one man among 
them who has any more idea of shedding his blood in this cause, 
than he has of making war on the Grand Turk. Their uni- 
versal spirit is to stand off and growl and bark at men and in- 
stitutions, without daring to march for one moment into their 
midst, and attack them with apostolic fearlessness. 

With sentiments of great respect, I remain yours, &c. 

Wm. S. Plummer. 

Rev. Robert N. Anderson Virginia: 

"To the Sessions of the Presbyterian Congregations 
within the bounds of West Hanover Presbytery:—- 

At the aproaching stated meeting of our Presbytery, I desigii 
lo offer a preamble and string of resolutions on tlie subject of 
the use of wine in the Lord's Supper; and also a preamble and 
a string of resolutions on the subject of the treasonable and 
abominably wicked interference of the Northern and Eastern 
fanatics with our political and civil rights, our property, and 
our domestic concerns. I myself, dear brethren, have no 
reason to doubt the perfect soundensrs of all my clerical breth- 
ren of this Presbytery on those subjects. But you are fully 
aware that the present state of things loudly and imperiously 
calls for an expression of their views on these subjects, and 
particularly on abolitionism, by all church bodies at the South. 
You are aware also, that our clergy, whether with or without 
reason, are more suspected by the public than are the clergy 
of other denominations. Now, dear christian brethren, I hum- 
bly express it as my earnest wish, that you quit yourselves like 
men :that every congregation send up both to the presbytery and 
to the Synod, the ablest elder it has. The times — rely upon 
it, the times demand it. If there bo any stray-goat of a 
minister among us, tainted with the blood-hound principles ol 
Abolitionism, let him by ferreted out, silenced, excommuni- 
cated,^ and loft to the public to dispose of him in other respects. 
Your affectionate brother in the Lord. 

Robert N. Anderson." 

The plain English' of this is,iftliero be a minister 
among us tainted with the principles of Christianity, let 



61 

him be ferreted out. &c., and left to the public to haHg or 
burn as suits it best. 

"'Abolition editors in slave States will not dare to avow their 
opinions. It would be instant death to them.' — Missouri Ar- 
gus." 

Prophecy, verrified in the instance of Gardner of Virgi- 
nia and more recently in that of John Hampden Pleas- 
ants, 

Cassius M. Clay traced Slavery in its history through- 
out all ages and nations, and came to the conclusion that 
American Slavery was pre-eminent in attrocity. He stat- 
ed that the murder of slaves went unpunished in Ken- 
tucky, and added, "The bells of seven churches weekly 
toll in my ears till I am deaf with the sound, calling up 
the people to the worship of the ever-living and omnipo- 
tent God. No rakish Jupiter, nor drunken Bacchus, nor 
prostituted Venus, nor obscene and hideous Pan, rules the 
consciences of the illuminated people of this city and state. 
Yet these scenes, which would have added fresh infamy 
to Babylon, and wrested the palm of reckless cruelty from 
Nero's bon-fire, Rome, have been enacted, not in a corner. 
And the sentinels of Him, 'whose arm is not shortened,' 
from the watch towers of Israel, have not ceased to cry out, 
*'all is well." This was spoken in a Slave State, and C. 
M. Clay for publishing his sentiments there and assailing 
the institution of Slavery, was mobbed by the gentlemen 
of Kentucky, and in all human probability his life was 
alone saved from the ruthless violence of that mob by a 
severe, and what was then supposed to be a fatal sickness. 

" 'Wo can assure the Bostonians, one and all, who have em- 
barked in the nefarious scheme of abolishing Slavery at the 
South, that lashes will hereafter be spared the backs of their 
omisarics. Lot them send out their men to Louisiana; they 
will never return to tell their suffering, but they shall expiate 
the crime of interfering in our domestic institutions by being 
BURNED AT THE STAKE.' — Ncw Orleans True American. 

"The Charleston Courier, 11th August, 1835, declared that 
*the gallows and the stake' awaited the Abolitionists who should 
dare to 'appear in person among us.' 

" 'Let us declare through the public journals of our country, 
that the question of Slavery is not and shall not be open to dis- 
cussion; that the system is too deep-rooted among us, and must 
remain for ever; that the very moment any private individual 
attempts to lecture us upon its evils and immorality, and the 
necessity of putting means in operation to secure us from them, 



6S 

l& i'ke same moment his tongue shall bo cut out and cast upon 
the dung-hill.' — Columbia (S. C ) Tcllescope. 

While on the Alabama circuit, I spent the Sabbath with an 
old circuit preacher, who was also a doctor living near "the 
Horse-shoe," cekbrated as Gen. Jackson's battle ground. On 
Monday morning early he was reading "Pope's Messiah" to 
me, when his wife called him out- I glanced my eye out of 
the window and saw a slave man standing by, and they consult- 
ing ever him. Presently the doctor took a raw-hide from un- 
der his coat and began to cut up the half naked back of the 
slave. I saw six or seven inches of the skin turn up perfectly 
white at every stroke, until the whole back was red with gore. 
The lacerated man cried out some at first; but at every blow 
the doctor cried ^^WonHye hush! WonHye Aws/t.'"till tlie slave 
finally stood still and groaned. As soon as he had done, the 
doctor came in panting, almost out of breath, and addressing 
me said, "IFo/i'i you go to prayer itith us sir?'''' I fell upon my 
knees and prayed, but what I said I knew not. When I came 
out, the poor creature had crept up and knelt by the door dur- 
ing prayer and his back was a gore of blood quite to his heels. 

Rev. J. Boucher. 

The person in Oberlin, Ohio, to whom the following- let- 
ter wa-s addressed, lias liberated 150 slaves and prefers en- 
during honest poverty to revelling in ill-gotten gains. 

Slaveholding Christianity — to the Life. — It may 
strike some minds that the following letter must be a bur- 
lesque. For the sake of such it may be important to say 
that its genuineness is beyond question. The individual 
to whom the letter was addressed is here, is well known, 
and is himself well acquainted with the writer. We have 
all the names in full; but suppose it better to give the piih- 
iic only the initials. The letter may therefore be read as 
a veritable portraiture of at least one of the forms of a 
elave holding ChY\st\a.n\ty. —Oberlin Evangelist. 

B , Georgia, September 4, 1845. 

Dear Sir: 

I take up my pen to write to you once more, though 
it is not I that write, but the Lord that writeth through 
me. Permit me to inform you that since I wrote to you 
last, I have come out and embraced the religion of the Lord 
Jgsus Christ, and am now living in the glorious light and 
liberty of the children of God. We have had quite an in- 
teresting church meeting here this week in relation to 

Deacon H . It was thought by many that he 

would be disfellowshipped, but finally his case was set forth 
in such a vivid light by the influential members of the 
Church, our pastor among the rest, he was honorably dis- 



63 

charged. For fear you will think the case worse than it 
really is, I will just state the facts, (although you are such 
an abolitionist, I suppose you will think it bad enough as 
it is.) The Deacon had an old slave, that had been in the 
habit of running away, but had always been caught, until 
finally about two weeks ago, he made another attempt. — 

No sooner was the old thing missing, than cousin H 

borrowed neighbor P s hounds and started in search 

of him. He had not proceeded far in the woods before he 
found the old man perched upon the limb of a large tree. 
He ordered him several times to come down, but the old 
man who was as stubborn as an ass, still maintained his 
position. The Deacon then becoming excited, fired his 
gun at him. The ball passed through his ankle, and man- 
gled it in such a manner that it mortified and ho died. — 
But as I have before stated, our good Pastor, (may the 
Lord bless his soul) held forth for the justification of the 
Deacon in such a vivid and heaven approving style that he 
was discharged upon the ground that he had a right to do 
what he pleased with his own property, — ajudgment which 
would have been passed by any righteous man. Your un- 
cle J- buried his youngest child last week. Your 

cousin W thought some of studying at Oberlin, but 

it is such un abolition hole, I do not think his father will 
let him go. I have partly bargained for about 50 slaves 

belonging to Mr. . If I can get them as cheap 

as 1 expect to, I shall make profit on them, for I under- 
stand that the Orleans market is quite good now. I expect 
to send them down as soon as my driver recovers; for in 
flogging one of my old slaves the other day, he received a 
very severe wound from him, he having struck him with 
his hoe, whereupon the driver instantly drew his pistol 
from his pocket and shot him dead upon the spot, a fate 
which he justly merited. From his extreme age (being 
nearly 80 years old) I consider his death a gain and not a 
loss to me. 

In your last you spoke of visiting us next year. If you 
come I pray you to leave your abolitionism behind, and 
show yourself a man. It is now time to go to prayer meet- 
ing, and I must close. My wife joins me in love to vou. 
Yours, J. F. F. 

Nothwithstanding such is the company he keeps, the 
vilest of the vile, the most degraded of the degraded, in 
writing to editor of Zions Watchman, 

The Rev. George W. Langhorne, of North Carolina, 
says : 



64 

*' I, sir, would as soon be found in the ranks of a bandit- 
ti, as numbered with Arthur Tappan and his wanton co- 
adjutors. Nothing is more appalling to my feelings as a 
a man, contrary to my principles as a Christian and repug- 
nant to my soul as a minister, than the insidious proceed- 
ings of such men." 

The men of whom he speaks as the wanton co-adjutors 
of Arthur Tappan, were preaching deliverance to the cap- 
tive yet nothing, says Mr. Langhorne, " is more appalling 
to my feelings as a man." They were teaching the duty 
of supreme love to God and our neighbors as ourselves, yet 
nothing " is more contrary to my principles as a christian." 
They were enjoining upon all to feed the hungry and clothe 
the naked, and to administer unto the afflicted, in short to 
fulfill the requirements of Christianity, yet nothing "is more 
repugnant to my soul as a minister" than thesOfproceedings. 
His abhorrence to their proceedings, no doubt arose from 
the fact that the teachings of these abolitionists would by 
reaching the hearts and consciences of the people abolish 
slavery and effect the downfall of the slaveholding religion 
of Mr. Langhorne and his abandoned and wicked associ^ 
ates. 

Northern men, and the northern church, with the excep- 
tion of the abolitionists take sides with the South. In 
evidence of this, is the action referred to in the proceeding 
pages, of the M. E. Church at its General Conference at 
Cincinnati ; that of the Baptist Triennial Convention 
which gagged Dr. Brisbane; the 'pledge of the Board of 
domestic missions as published in the memorial of the 
Presbytery of Georgia ; the action of the last General As- 
sembly of the Old School Presbyterian Church, also that 
of the New School, which declared that it was not for the 
edification of the church to pass any resolution expressive 
of its disapprobation of slavery, and proceeded to elect 
Dr. Hill of Virginia, who justified on tlie floor of the As- 
sembly, the practice of Lynching abolitionists, to preach 
the sacremental sermon, and administer the sacrament. — 
The expression of the Ohio annual conference of the Meth- 
eist Episcopal Church, which 

Resolved, — 
"That those brethren of tlie North, who resist the aholition 
movements with firmness and moderation, are the true friends 
of the churcli, to the slaves of the South, and to the conetitution 
of our common country," &c. 



G5 

Tke New York Annual Conferrence 

Resolved, — 

'M. That this Conference fully concur in the advice of the 
late General Conference, as expressed in their Pastoral Ad- 
dress. 

"2. That we disapprove of the members of this Conference 
patronizing or in any way giving countenance to a paper call- 
ed Zion's Watchman," because in our opinion, it tends to dis- 
turb the peace and harmony of the body, by sowing diss«.nsion 
in the church." 

Resolved, — 

"3. That although we could not condemn any man, or with- 
hold our suffrages from him on account of his opinions merely, 
in reference to the subject of abolitionism, yet we are decidedly 
of the opinion that none ought to be elected to the office of dea 
con or elder in our churcli, unless he give a pledge to the Con- 
ference, tjiat he will refrain from agitating the church with dis- 
cussions on this subject." 

The countenance given to mobs, the epithets of infidel, 
and fanatic, which are bestowed upon aboltionists, the in- 
veterate and violent hostility to their doctrines, the shut- 
ting against them of the meeting houses of all denomina- 
tions including those professed abolitionists the (Quakers, 
preventing them as far as practicable from being heard in 
bahalf of the slave. 

Those which open their doors on these occasions give 
evidence they are willing the subject shall be discussed ; 
that the truth shall be sought for ; the people informed up- 
on their duties in relation to it, Those which close their 
doors, and thus, and by other measures, excite opposition 
to the abolitionists, go as far as theyjiave power. They 
cannot induce the populace to hang those who preach de- 
liverance to the captive, on the nearest tree, as do the 
priests and professors at the South, nor to crucify them as 
was done to the great emancipator in a long past century, 
yet in going as far as they do, they give evidence that only 
a want of pov/er prevents them from proceeding that much 
further. In .closing the doors of their houses for public 
meeting, against one who preaches deliverance to the cap- 
tive, they testify that they would hinder him from doing 
the same in the ptreets, the woods, the fields, had they the 
ability so to do. Those wlio use the weapons of the moral 
assassin, or countenance and encourage others to use tiiem, 
in slanders upon the character of those who teach the great 
fundamental principles of Christianity, namely, love to God. 
and love to man, would assault, and encourao-e othpr« txO 



66 

assault their lives, if they dared so to do. They go as far as 
public sentiment permits them, to encourag-e and sustain 
vslavery, and the reason they do not proceed to the extrem- 
ities which are permitted South, is only because they have 
not the courage to attempt it, not from v/ant of wilL 

The Episcopal Methodists have brought about some 
kind of a division in their Association, They have now 
the '^M, E. church South," and the "M. E. church."— 
This last includes the Baltimore Conference, Slaveholding 
Maryland and a part of Slaveholding Virginia, besides 
slaveholding members scattered throughout the northern 
States. The members commune with slaveholders, and 
with those who legalize slavery, or in other words, au- 
thorise, empower and assist the slave claimant to drive his 
victim to unremunerated toil, and to punish even to the ex- 
tent of taking life if he refuses. To scatter families by an 
endless separation, pollute the daughter, brutalize the son, 
and to teach their slaves a religion more degrading and 
idolatrous than heathenism. It takes essentially and in 
fact the same ground as the Southern church, that it i« 
neither sin to hold a man in bondage, sell him, separate 
iiim from a wife or family, compel him to pass his dyas in 
brutal ignorance, or authorise the whole of this by making 
it legaL 

Thus we discover that the M. E. Church member stands 
side by side with the southern professors of a slaveholding 
religion, and his religion is identical with theirs. Be- 
cause Christianity wars against slavery, this church wars 
against Christianity. Allusion has already been made to 
the action of its conference in 1836, and to the resolution 
of the Ohio and New York conferences, its closing its 
meeting houses, and preventing its preachers from speak- 
ing against slavery, and its manifesting a violent hostility 
to abolitionists. But again, the church is disciplinary in 
its organization, it has its establislied standard of morali- 
ty, and professes to condemn sin, or a violation of that 
standard of morals, rebuke the sinner and disfellowship 
him, unless he ran be brought to repentance, As far as I 
have any knowledge of its proceedings it Jiyes arjd ficts up 
to the standard of morals which it has established, ali 
those open and known acts recognised by it as sins, it con- 
demns. If a member is known to steal a chicken, or 
speaks disrespectful of the discipline, he becomes obnox- 
ious to church censure, these acts are regarded as sins, and 
condemned as such, hence those open and known actg 



67 

which are not condemned as sins, are not regarded by the 
church as sins. To legalize the foul system of slavery, to 
send the armed soldier to the south to crush the slave, or 
to drive the slave to unpaid toil, are not regarded or con- 
demned as sinful actions. The person commiting these 
acts, is not rebuked as a sinner, hence the church affirms 
that these acts are not sins or it would condemn them as 
such, as it professes to condemn all open and known acts 
that are sinful, (verily this is straining at a gnat and svv^al- 
lovving a camel.) Every act Mias a moral character, is 
either right or wrong, that which is right, has the Divine 
sanction; if slaveholding is not sinful, it is right and 
has the Divine sanction. Here then is the position of 
the M. E. Church on the slave question. And as slave- 
holding is not codemned as a sin by this church, it 
could not consistently with this fact and its professions 
as a church disciplinary in its character, condemning 
sin, admit slaveholding to be a sin. Should it make 
this admission it would stand before the world as ma- 
king, according to its own admissions, a false profession; 
professing to condemn sin, yet passing over what it ad- 
mits to be a sin, without condemning it. And here is 
precisely where the member of that church stands, who 
declares slaveholding to be sinful. He osa church mem- 
ber, says, by his position, by his acts, by the language 
of his life, that slaveholding is right, an institution of 
God. He as a church member professes to condemn 
sin, and claims the M. E. Church to be a christian 
body, condemning sin, and claiming a christian charac- 
ter for himself, he goes before the world declaiming 
against slavery as a gross sin, when he knows that as 
a church member in the church, while professing to con* 
demn sin, he does not condemn this one, that the 
church for which he claims a christian character, while 
it professes to condemn sin, does not condemn this one, 
or this "sum of all villanies," and the man standing in 
this position, if he is unable to discover his inconsis' 
tency, has not sufficient ability to be a hypocrite. 

The General Conference in 1844, refused to admit 
slaveholding to be sinful, and thus mantained its con- 
sistency on this point. But all of those churches which 
ar,'^ disciplinary, have a standard of morality, and pro- 
fess to condemn sin, rebuke the sinner, and disfellow- 
aship him, unless he can be brought to repentcnce, that 
have admitted or declared slaveholding to be sinful, yet 



6S 

pass over tlie sin of slaveliokling-, or of legalizing slave- 
ry without condemnation, occupy on this point the" same 
inconsistent position as does the M. E. Church member, 
who remains a member of that church and admits slave- 
holding- to be sinful. No truth can be more plain than 
the following. If an act is wrong, then it is wrong to 
sanction, authorise, or empower another to commit that 
act. The man who legalizes slavery, sanctions, authorr 
izes and empowers the slave claimant to hold his slave, 
is involved in all the guilt of slavery as it is. If the 
character of God is known by his attributes, then from 
the developements in this little work it will be easy for 
the reader to form some adequate idea of the character 
of that God, who is worshipped by the professors of a 
slaveholding religion in America, that God who is wor- 
shipped by those sects, whicii have been shown to wage 
a warfare upon Christianity. Slavery is a compound of 
injustice, passion, avarice, revenge, malevolence, cruelty, 
lust, falsehood, and every thing that is vile and odious; 
these qualities are the attributes of their God, the moral 
opposites of the attributes of the overliving and omnipo- 
tent God. For Christianity teaches us that his attributes 
are such as justice, right, truth, benevolence, mercy and 
purity. It would be morally impossible for those who 
uphold and practice slaveholding, and who make false 
professions to worship a God of justice, truth, benevo- 
lence, and mercy, but all such, while they continue to 
bow down and worship the bloody moloch of slavery 
and serve him, must and will war against the attributes 
of the everliving God. 

Reader is this your practice, is this your position, do 
you belong to any one of these anti -christian slavehold- 
ing churches, do you continue a voluntary member of a 
government tliat crushes the slave. Then let me implore 
you to cease your warfare upon truth, and the right, and 
to abandon your disgraceful, guilty and inglorious con- 
nections, to withhold your support from the system of 
slaveholding, to keep not the company of miscreants, so 
as to give a sanction to their evil deeds, but in the 
light and in the power of truth, be free and stand up a 
man. 

You may treat the subject as an unimportant one, one 
that may lightly be passed over while you feel that 
others are its victims, not yourselves ; but the time will 
come, when the violated laws of Deity, will be vindi- 



69 

cated — when the dark red clouds of mutternig' wratii, 
now filling the horizon, will burst upon yoitr guilty 
heads — when glittering swords, grasped by red arms of 
vengeance, flashing atliwart the angry sky, will wake 
you from your wicked slumber, to a sense of the im- 
pending ruin — when the chalice you have proffered to 
others lips, will be returned to your ov/n, and you compelled 
to drink the bitter draught, draining it to its very dregs; 
and when this despotism, you have nurtured and estab- 
lished, will seize upon yourself as its victim, or track 
you upon your path, clutching at your heels to drag you 
down to the lowest depths of torment and perdition; and 
although you may have stultified your intellects, blunt- 
ed your moral perceptions, disabled yourself from discrim- 
inating between right and wrong, though you may have 
extinguished the light of reason and enveloped the light 
of Revelation, in thick clouds of doubt and darkness, yet 
then the truth, like lightning from a dark cloud, will flash 
upon your mind, and as plainly as though it were writ- 
ten with the blaze of a sunbeam, you may read the fear- 
ful ruin you have brought upon yourself, the mighty ruin 
you have wrought upon the nation. 

" Up then, in Freedom's manly part, 

From gray-beard eld to fiery youth, 
And on the nation's naked heart 

Scatter the living coals of Truth I 
Up — while ye slumber, deeper yet 

The shadow of our fame is growang I 
Up — while ye pause, our sun may set 

In blood around our altars flowing I 

Oh ! rouse ye, ere the storm comes forth— 

The gathered wrath of God and man — 
Like that which wasted Egypt's earth, 

When hail and fire above it ran. 
Hear ye no warning's in the air ? 

Feel ye no earthquake underneath ? 
Up — up — why will ye slumber where 

The sleeper only wakes in deatli V 

The following is appended to a Narrative of the 
life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, written 
by himself. And no one is better qualified to describe the 
character of the Slaveholding Religion of America, than 
Mr. Douglass, who was for years a victim of this helish 
System: 

Mr. Douglass says : -'What I have said respecting and 



to 

against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the slavehold- 
ing religion o^ this land, and with no possible reference to 
Christianity proper ; for, between the Christianity of this 
land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest 
possible difference — so wide, that to receive the one as 
good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as 
bad, corrupt and wicked. To be the friend of the one, is of 
necessity to be the enemy of the other. I love the pure^ 
peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ : I there- 
fore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, 
cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of 
this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most de- 
ceitful one, tor calling the religion of this land Christiani- 
ty. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest 
of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels. Never was 
there a clearer case of " stealing the livery of the court of 
heaven to serve the devil in." I am filled with unuttera- 
ble loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and 
show, together with the horrible inconsistencies, which 
every where surround me. We have men-stealers for min- 
isters, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle plun- 
derers for church members. The man who wields the blood- 
clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday 
and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. 
The man who robs me of my earnings at the end of each 
week meets me as class leader on Sunday morning, to 
show me the way of life, and the path of salvation. He 
who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands 
forth as the pious advocate of purity. He who proclaims 
it a religious duty to read the Bible, denies me the right of 
learning to read the name of the God who made me. He who 
is the religious advocate of marriage robs whole millions 
of its sacred influence, and leaves them to the ravages of 
wholesale pollution. The warm defender of the sacred- 
ness of the family relation is the same that scatters whole 
families, — sundering husbands and wives, parents and 
children, sisters and brothers, — leaving the hut vacant, 
and the hearth desolate. We see the thief preaching 
against theft, and the adulterer against adultery. We have 
men sold to build churches, women sold to support the 
gospel, and babes sold to purchase Bibles for the poor hea- 
then ! all for the glory of God and the good of souls I The 
slave auctioneer's bell and the chureh-going bell chime in 
with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken 
slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious mas- 



ter. Revivals of religion and revivals in the slave-trade 
go hand in hand together. The slave prison and the 
church stand near each other. The clanking of fetters 
and the rattling of chains in the prison, and the pious 
psalm and solemn prayer in the church, may be heard at 
• the same time. The dealers in the bodies and souls of 
men, erect their stand in the presence of the pulpit, and 
they mutually help each other. The dealer gives his 
blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, in 
return, covers his infernal business with the garb of Chris- 
tianity. Here we have religion and robbery the allies of 
each other — devils dressed in angels' robes, and hell pre- 
senting the semblence of paradise, 

"Just God! and these are they, 

Who minister at thine altar, God of right I 

Men who their hands, with prayer and blessing, lay 
On Israel's ark of light. 

"What I preach and kidnap men? 

Give thanks, and rob thy own afHicted poor? 
Talk of tliy glorious liberty, and then 

Bolt hard the captive's door? 

The Christianity of America is a Christianity of whose 
votaries it may be as truly said, as it was of the ancient 
scribes and Fharasees, " They bind heavy burdens, and 
grievous to '.be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, 
but they themselves will not move them with one of their 

fingers. All their works they do for to be seen of men. 

They love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief 
seats in the synagogues, * * * * and to be called of men. 

Rabbi, Rabbi. But woe unto you, scribes and Phara- 

sees, hypocrites ! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven 
against men ; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suf- 
fer ye them that are entering to go in. Ye devour widow's 
houses, and for a pretence make long prayers ; therefore 
ye shall receive the greater damnation. Ye compass sea and 
land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make 

him twofold more the child of hell than* yourselves. 

Wo unto you, scribes and Pharasees, hypocrites! for ye 
pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omit- 
ted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, 
and faith ; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave 
the other undone. Ye blind guides ! which strain at a gnat 
and swallow a camel. Woe unto you scribes and Phara- 
eees, hypocrites ! for ye make clean the outside of the cup 



and of the platter; but within, they arc full of extortion 
and excess. Woe unto you scribes and Pharasees, hyp- 
ocrites ! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which in- 
deed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead 
men's bones and of all uncleaness. Even so ye also out- 
wardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of 
hypocrisy and inquity. 

Dark and terrible as is this picture, I hold it to be 
strictly true of the overwhelming mass of professed Chris- 
tians in America. They strain at a gnat, and swallow a 
camel. Could any thing be more true of our churches'? They 
would be shocked at the proposition of fellowshipping a 
shcep-stealer ; and at the same time they hug to their com- 
munion a man-steviier , and brand me with being an infidel, 
if I find fault with them for it. They attend with Phari- 
saical strictness to the outward forms of religion, and at 
the same time neglect the weightier matters of law, judg- 
ment, mercy and faith. They are always ready to sac- 
rifice, but seldom to show mercy. They are they who are 
represented as professing to love God whom they have not 
seen, whilst they hate their brother whom they have seen. 
They love the heathen on the other side of the globe. — •' 
They can pray for him, pay money to have the Bible put 
into his hand, and missionaries to instruct him; while 
they despise and totally neglect the heathen at their own 
doors. 

Such is, very briefly, my view of the religion of this 
land ; and to avoid any misunderstanding, growing out of 
the use of general terms, I mean by the religion of this 
land, that which is revealed in the words, deeds and actions, 
of those bodies, north and south, calling themselves Chris- 
tian churches, and yet in union with slaveholders. It is 
against religion, as presented by these bodies, that 1 have 
felt it my duty to testify." 



ADVERTISEMENT. 

It is the iiiteHtiou of the author to continue to publish new editions of this 
work as the materials for further developemeuts of a slave-holding religioi't 
present themselves. 



Sold in Cincinnati at H. S. Gilmore's High School on Harrison Street by- 
Mr. Spencer. 

At Harveysbnrsh, Warren Co, bv A''. Nicholson. 

At Columbus by W. W, Pollard. 

At Salem Columbiana Co. at the office of the Anti-slavery Bugle, by 
,T. Elizabeth Jones, and by the anti slavery Lecturers and Agents. Price 
$6, 00 per hundred, 12icts. single. 



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